The Marauders: Year Two
by Melissitchka
Summary: The story of the Marauder's continues as they ascend on Hogwarts to begin their Second Year.
1. Paddleball for Wizards

**Paddleball for Wizards**

    Peter looked up to check for traffic as he crossed the street near the park. It was nearly August and he'd just received his Hogwarts owl with his school supplies list for Second Year. Shortly after that owl had left, he'd received two owls in quick succession bearing the handwriting of James on one letter and Remus on the other. He's grabbed them and headed out into the warm day. He figured he would take a walk and read the letters but had instead decided to head for a park a bit away from his house.   
    He sighed as he thought of how dreadfully slow the summer was going. Many times he wondered if maybe he hadn't imagined the past year at Hogwarts. The letters from James, Sirius and Remus were really the only validation that he had. So far, none of the boys had been able to visit one another. The Blacks refused to house four young Gryffindors, the Potters had spent most of July traveling and wouldn't be back in England for at least another week and Remus had been very quiet about his whole family situation.   
    Peter pulled one of the letters out of his pocket as he sat down on a swing and broke the seal.   
    _Hey Pete!  
        I hope this reaches you. The owl looks near ready to keel over, doesn't it? But mum and dad keep using ours for work, so I can't use him. Russia is cold. Can't really say I like it much right after Paris, but we'll only be here a few days. My dad is trying to hunt down some sort of relic. I don't know, he won't give me any details. I guess that's why they're called Unspeakables. Mum seems to know more than I do though. Anyway, we'll be home next week and I wanted to know if you wanted to come spend the week at our home. If your families got a fireplace we can hook you up to the Floo Network for the afternoon, if not, we can figure out something else. Anyway, owl me back with a reply sometime before next Monday and we'll come get you. You have to come, we need to work on all our plans for next term. I'm inviting Sirius and Remus, too.   


James

_  
    Peter grinned widely. His parents would probably let him go and it felt like forever since he'd last seen his friends. He reached back into his pocket and pulled out Remus's letter. As he opened it, he pushed off and began to pump his legs, swinging the swing as he read.  
    _Dear Pete,  
    Sorry I didn't get right back to you, I was kind of sick for a few days. Anyway, I'm sorry. The WWN is the Wizard Wireless Network… like Muggle radios, I think they're called. But I'm glad you asked because I got tickets to the Banishing Banshees concert for August 19th, I thought you lot might want to come and then spend a few days at my house. Get back to me with your response and then I guess we'll try to figure out a way to get you here. Did you get your Hogwarts letter yet? I can't wait to see what texts they assign.  


Remus

_  
    Peter shook his head and grinned again. Only Remus would segue from rock concerts to textbooks. Peter put both of the letters back into his pocket and looked around the park. His eyes stopped for a moment at the girl perched on top of the slide. She was just sitting there, writing in a book it appeared.   
    _It can't be,_ Peter thought and rubbed his eyes. "Lily Evans?" he yelled across the park and the girl made a very startled noise, slipped and slid sideways down the slide before tumbling unceremoniously into the dirt.   
    "Peter Pettigrew? What are you doing in Little Whinging?" she gasped as she stood up and brushed off her shorts.   
    "I live in Little Whinging, what are you doing here?"   
    "Well clearly I live here too," she said and began walking towards the swings. "Why didn't I ever notice you before?"  
    "My family moved here while we were at school. I didn't go to primary school here," Peter said as she sat down in the swing next to him. "What's that?" he gestured at the book in her hands.   
    "Uh, nothing," Lily said and wrapped her arms tightly around the book. Then she grinned widely. "It's so good to see you. I really thought that maybe I just imagined… I mean, I know I didn't. But it's so hard to believe sometimes."  
    "I know what you mean," Peter said, kicking off to swing again. "How's Alice and Becca?"   
    "They're fine. We're going to get together in August for a bit. And Remus and Sirius, how are they?" Lily asked. Peter noticed she'd deliberately left out James.  
    "Alright. We're all going to the Potters in a few weeks. Oh, what about Melissa and Tessa, do you ever hear from them?"  
    "Oh, I don't really. My horrible sister won't let the owls anywhere near our house most of the time! The Hogwarts one got through this morning, but most of the others aren't as persistent," Lily said, her face in a scowl.   
    "I wish I'd known you were here this past month," Peter said.   
    "Me too. It's been such a dull summer. But I can't wait to go to Diagon Alley and get my school supplies. When are you going?"   
    "I don't know. Whenever my parents have a bit of time, I suppose."   
    "We could go together. My mum and dad are great about all this magic stuff, but I bet they'd really like to meet another set of Muggle parents," Lily offered.   
    "Yea, alright," Peter agreed and the two set to discussing the various events of the summer thus far. 

~~*~~

    "Come on, Dad," James whined excitedly while standing in front of the fire. "Peter's waiting."  
    Mr. Potter chuckled at his excited son and grabbed his cloak. "Oh no, James. It looks like we're out of Floo powder." Mr. Potter said sadly looking into the jar on the mantle.   
    "What?!? But I must've checked it ten times between last night and this morning," James said as he grabbed for the jar, only to find it filled to the brim with the greenish powder. "Dad!"  
    Mr. Potter chuckled, grabbed a handful and tossed it into the fire as he stepped forward saying "Pettigrew Residence, Little Whinging."   
    James followed after him quickly and before he knew it he had spun into the Pettigrews kitchen and toppled over a nearby chair.   
    "James!" the chubby, blonde boy exclaimed happily. "Mum, Dad, this is my friend James and his dad."   
    James looked up and noticed two Muggle adults standing in the nearby doorway, smiling apprehensively. James recognized them from St. Mungo's and both of their grins widened when they realized who he was.   
    Mr. Pettigrew stepped forward first and reached out his hand to Mr. Potter, "Pleasure to meet you."  
    Mr. Potter stepped up and grasped the outstretched hand, "Likewise." His eyes were darting around the kitchen. Like most wizards and witches, he was amazed at how Muggles managed to get on without magic.   
    Mrs. Pettigrew beamed at Mr. Potter and James. "We've heard so much about you, young man. Next summer you'll have to come and stay with us for a bit."  
    "Sure," James agreed and turned to Peter. "Where's your stuff?"   
    Peter gestured towards the duffle bag by the door. "That's it."   
    Mr. Potter walked over and slung it over his shoulder easily. "It's been very nice meeting you, but we really need to get home. James is expecting two of his other friends any moment."  
    Mrs. Pettigrew reached for Peter and hugged him. James overheard her whisper, "Are you sure this is safe, dear? It's a _fire_" and Peter respond with a drawn out, "Muuuum."   
    "See you in a week," Peter said and reached for the vial Mr. Potter handed him.   
    "Just toss it in, step into the fire and say 'Potter Manor' loudly and clearly," James instructed him. "Here, watch." James stepped into the fire, followed his own instructions and was gone a moment later.   
    "Off you go then, Peter," Mr. Potter said, extending his hand one last time to Mr. Pettigrew, but Peter didn't see them shake hands, he was too busy spinning towards Potter Manor.   


~~*~~

    "That was great, Mrs. Potter," Sirius said, leaning back in his chair holding his stomach. "I'm so stuffed I don't think I'll be able to eat for a week!"  
    "Or an hour, at least," Remus grinned.  
    "Well I'll definitely take that as a complement. You growing boys need plenty of nourishment," Mrs. Potter replied as she began to gather up dirty plates and silverware. "Run off now, you three. I've got to clean up this mess."  
    The four boys ran up the stairs and settled in James room. The week had been rather uneventful so far, but the Marauders were just happy to be together again.   
    Suddenly Sirius leaned forward. "Did I ever tell you the joke about the vampires?"  
    "The vampires?" Peter asked, from his spot sprawled across James bed.   
    "Yea, so three vampires walk into a bar. The first says, 'I want a Bloody Mary, the second says, 'Make the two', but before the third…"  
    "Ugh, Seer, I've heard this. Don't finish that joke," Remus said from the floor. He reached over, grabbed a book and started to read it.   
    "Some of us have no senses of humor," Sirius began, grinning widely. He was thoroughly amused by how prude Remus could be.   
    "Some of us have a concept of social graces," Remus countered, flipping a page.   
    "Social graces? What are friends for if not people to ignore all social graces with?" Sirius said his eyes looking at the other two.   
    "So, a manticore, a hellhound and a horklump walk into a bar…" Peter began before he was assailed by three other pillows. "Or not."   
    Sirius laughed. "Well, at least Pete attempts a sense of humor."   
    Peter grinned.   
    James grabbed a quaffle off his floor and tossed it to Sirius, who tossed it back. For the next hour, the four passed the time quietly with Remus reading, James and Sirius playing catch and Peter watching them.   
    "Did I tell you guys Lily Evans lives by me?" Peter asked later in the evening.   
    James dropped the quaffle for the first time in an hour. "Do _not_ say that name under my roof," he bellowed.   
    "Right, nevermind that then," Peter mumbled.   
    Remus, completely ignoring James, asked, "How's she doing?"  
    "She's alright. We got our school stuff at Diagon Alley together last week. My parents really liked meeting other Muggle parents, and I finally met that sister of hers."   
    "Oh yea, is she as bad as Lily makes her sound?" Sirius asked as James growled, still angered at the mention of Lily.   
    "Worse. She didn't even know me and she glared at me like I was diseased," Peter said shaking his head. "I don't know how Lily deals with it."   
    "You know what would be great?" James said out of nowhere. "If we could apparate. Could you imagine the places we could go?"   
    His attempt to end the conversation about Lily succeeded admirably, "We could go to Hogwarts and play a pick up game of Quidditch on the pitch!"  
    "No we couldn't," Remus said, sitting up. "You can't apparate in or out of Hogwarts. It's in _Hogwarts: A History,_ don't you guys ever read anything?"  
    "Not that, no," Sirius said just as James said, "I forgot about that."  
    "You knew that?" Sirius said. "Don't tell me you've read that book."  
    "Yea, part of it, while I was in the Hospital Wing once last term," James shrugged.   
    "You and Remmy are officially disowned. Come on, Pete, let's get away from these lunatics," Sirius declared, sticking his nose up in the air, rising from his spot on the floor and crossing to the doorway.   
    Peter shrugged at the other two and followed Sirius out of the room.   
    "What do you suppose they're going to get up to?" Remus asked.   
    "Probably best not to know," James replied. "We'll got find them in a bit. Honestly though, it's not as though I've read it cover to cover and memorized it like you."  
    "I haven't got it memorized, but it does have some useful information. It's where I got the idea to tap statues saying _dissendium_."  
    "Really? So what's this new band? The Banishing Banshees? I didn't hear about them in Europe."  
    "They're pretty popular on the WWN. My mum said I could have you lot over for the weekend. Get there Friday night, concert on Saturday and then you all go home on Sunday morning," Remus said.   
    "Cool-" James was cut off by a loud bang. "Oh no, come on Remmy." The two jumped up and dashed for the door. 

~~*~~

    "Are you ever going to tell me what that bang was?" James asked Sirius and Peter wearily as they all stood in front of the fireplace preparing to leave.   
    Peter just grinned evilly and stepped into the fireplace, shouting his destination.   
    Sirius stepped up to the hearth and grinned back at James, "I've left you one in your room. The first one… didn't make it." A second later, he was gone.   
    "Good luck with that James. And be careful, I'd rather you showed up at my house all in one piece," Remus called over his shoulder as he too disappeared into the green flames.   
    Mrs. Potter bustled into the living room. "Did you all have a nice visit dear?"   
    "Yes, mum," James replied and started off towards his room as she took out her wand and quickly cleaned the Floo residue and dust off the furniture.   
    "James, may I ask? What is it that you four did all week? Besides wreak a considerable amount of havoc and degnome my garden six times?"   
    "Oh, not much mum. We just chatted about our summers and stuff," James shrugged, caught off guard by his mother.   
     His mother hesitated for a second before asking, "Well, what kind of stuff? You never seem to sit and chat with me anymore… I understand you're growing up but I still do miss it, dear."  
    James felt guilty for a second and decided that there were probably a _few_ things he could tell her about that they had discussed that week. "Well, you know when we go to Remus's on Friday, we're going to a concert. We talked about that," he began as he crossed the room and flopped down on the sofa. His mother smiled and lowered herself down onto the loveseat across from him. "We talked a bit about our classes and maybe the extra classes we want to take during Third Year. And well, a lot about Quidditch. Sirius and I are going to go out for the team and we hope we'll be able to talk Remus into it also."  
    "What about Peter?" his mother prompted.  
    "He's adamant about not going out. He's really not all that good on a broom anyway. He really does do a good commentary, perhaps when Agatha Chubb graduates he can do that. What did you and your friends talk about when you were twelve, mum?" James asked, suddenly curious for an insight to how the mind of a twelve year old girl works.   
    Mrs. Potter looked slightly taken aback and then grinned. The grin surprised James because it wasn't her warm, motherly smile that she usually wore, but far more similar to the look his father referred to as 'trouble' whenever he used it himself. "Well, primarily boys, dear. That is what tends to take up the minds of most twelve year old girls." She sighed at an old memory and giggled. "Then, of course, there was revenge to get on your father."  
    James blanched, "Excuse me?"   
    "Well, your father was so… square? I think that'd be an adequate word. His friends were all so very dull, so your father seemed slightly lively out of that group, but in general… let's just say, he didn't have much of a sense of humor for some time. And, well, not having a sense of humor just didn't go over well with me and my group of friends." She smiled nostalgically again. "So I flat out tortured him until he fell madly in love with me. I'll have you know, although you must swear never to repeat it, your father is far more bothered by those owls they send home from school all the time than I am. For Merlin's sake, I don't think I even got half as many about you as my mum and dad did about me my first year."   
    James could feel his jaw drop to the ground and heard his mother chuckle as she looked his way.  
    "Well, didn't you assume you got that talent for trouble making from somewhere?" she asked.  
    "From dad," he replied quickly, thinking that mothers should not be doing _any_ of the things he got up to at Hogwarts.   
    "Oh goodness, no, I'd say you got your academic brains from your father, but the creative side necessary for some of those pranks describes by Minerva in those owls… that comes from me," she said with a faint trace of pride. "But, before I give you any ideas, perhaps we'd better desist with this tangent. What else do you boys discuss?"  
    "Well, current events," James said; now making it his mother's turn to looks surprised.   
    "Current events?" she questioned.  
    "Well, yeah. They're not very… peachy, right now, are they? I mean, a girl in our Year…" he trailed off.  
    "The McGonagalls," she murmured quietly and James nodded. He looked up and saw him mum shake her head sadly. "Poor little Trixie."  
    "They were just herbologists, mum! And they were as pureblooded as we are! We're just concerned, especially with more evidence coming in daily that it may well have been Voldemort and he's never actually _killed_ anyone before, so why start with them?" James poured out. This had actually been the primary topic of discussion for the week among the Marauders.   
    Mrs. Potter frowned sadly, "Darling, who knows why such bad things happen. If they prove it was that Voldemort man… well, everything possible will be done to stop him."  
    "Is that what dad is working on?" James asked very quietly, looking his mother in the eye.  
    She paused a moment and then nodded slightly, "Yes, he is part of the investigation."  
    "Does he know why it was the McGonagalls?" James asked.   
    "James, I think you're a bit too young to be worrying about all this. Leave it to the adults, it's best to just enjoy your childhood. It'll be gone before you know it." Suddenly James noticed the faint wrinkles on his mother's face and the streaks of grey in her dark brown hair. He'd never noticed how old she actually was before. "Go on dear, it's getting a bit late. Maybe you'd best head up to bed. I did enjoy talking with you though. Remind me sometime when you're a bit older to tell you about the passageway in the old Charms classroom."  
    James mentally filed away that last bit, crossed the room and gave him mother a peck on the cheek. "Goodnight, mum."   
    Suddenly she wrapped her arms tightly around him, "Goodnight, James. I love you dearly, you know that?"  
    James paused for a moment, surprised, and then hugged her back. "Of course, mum. I love you too."   
    He exited the room and walked up the steps to his room, trying to stop worrying about Voldemort and attempting to picture his twelve year old mother cackling madly at some prank at the same time. The later won and made him smile.   
    On his bed he found a strange shaped piece of wood with a ball stuck to it and a note lying on top.   
            _James,  
         Peter said this is called a laddlefall. Paddleball, I mean. You hit the ball against the wood repeatedly, it's some sort of Muggle game… we had a bit of fun improving it the other night, you could say. The point is to bounce the ball off the wood repeatedly, that rubbery thing (Peter said it's called a rubber band) holds the ball to the wooden paddle. Good luck with it. See you Friday.   


-Sirius and Peter

_  
    The gift appeared innocent, but James knew the two of them better than that. _Improved, eh?_ he thought as he turned that paddle board over in his hands. _Well, I'll be a sport and give it a shot. Hopefully they fixed whatever made that massive bang last time. _  
    He picked up the paddle and started bouncing the ball, thinking _This is so easy, any idiot could-_ He was cut off as the ball suddenly exploded with a massive band.   
    "Oof," he gasped as he picked himself up off the floor and began to feel for injuries. _Well I survived that one,_ he thought happily as he crossed his room to double check himself in the mirror. Before he could hear her the door to his room flew open and his mother was standing in the doorway looking quite anxious.   
    "James Harold Potter,_ what are you doing?_" she shrieked.  
    "Umm… paddle ball, mum," he muttered.  
    "Paddleball?"  
    "It's a… er… Muggle game of sorts."  
    "Why is it that I can't really envision Muggles playing a game like that?"   
    "Well, Sirius and Peter improved it a bit…"  
    "Improved?!?"  
    "Well, I don't think it explodes when Muggles play it…"  
    Mrs. Potter shook her head and looked back at her only son. "Well James, I certainly hope your eyebrows re-grow in time for that concert on Saturday."   
    James whirled around to look in the mirror as Mrs. Potter gently closed the door, walked to the stairway landing and burst into hysterical laughter.   
  
  
  
  
  
    _Author's Note: I'm asking for a bit of help here. There's a writer on fanfiction.net who goes by the name of Whitelighter3 who seems to have recently had a fun time completely and totally stealing my version, nearly word for word (and I can count the number of words she changed on just about one hand), of The Marauders: Year One. Should anyone notice that she has a Marauders: Year Two up, or whatever she'll call it, let me know, would you? Because I'd like to make sure that she's not boasting any exploding paddleball games or heart to hears with dear old mum.   
  
And, of course, thanks for reading. :0) _


	2. I Believe I Can Fly

**I Believe I Can Fly**

    Peter's house was an absolute train wreck, there was no other way to properly explain it. "Peter Paul Pettigrew, did I _not_ tell you to pack yesterday or were my ears deceiving me?" his mother shrieked up the staircase.   
    "I was over Lily's yesterday. I lost track of the time," Peter moaned as he searched fruitlessly for his socks and Bob. He found Bob in one of his socks and gave a huge sigh of relief, putting Bob safely in his cage and tossing his socks into his trunk.   
    He'd spent his last day of holiday with the Evans', who, if one exempted Petunia, were a really nice bunch. He'd laughed when Lily had told him his parents were gardeners who owned a nursery and whispered to him that her mother was Rose and her father was Herb. It had been nice to have someone to discuss school with and he'd caught her up on several events in the magical world and told her about the Banishing Banshees concert he'd gone to the previous week. Both of them tended to be rather out of the loop as their parents were Muggles and neither subscribed to the _Daily Prophet_, which Lily said she intended to do next summer.   
    "Peter," his mother yelled up the stairs once again. "If that trunk isn't down here in ten minutes, we're going to be late and you know very well your father and I can't just hop on a broomstick and haul you off to Hogwarts if you miss that train!"   
    Peter looked around his room in a panic and then gave up. He pushed his trunk next to his overflowing desk and just slid everything into it, which wound up taking most of the room up in his trunk. _Well, if nothing else, my texts, parchments and quills are somewhere in that mess,_ he thought and then began digging under his bed for his robes and school uniform.   
    "Peter!" his father bellowed. "This car is leaving in five minutes, with or without you!"  
    _How ridiculous,_ Peter thought. What's the point if they leave without me? Why go at- YES! My shoes!" He chucked the shoes into his trunk and quickly followed them with a few pairs of robes and his uniform. He then tried to shut the trunk, but the overflowing mess would not give. "Dad! Could you help me close my trunk, please?"   
    He heard his father make his way up the steps and climbed on top of his trunk, which forced it down just enough that the latches should be able to take. His father burst into his room and latched the trunk quickly. Then he began heaving it out of his room, "What've you got in here, Pete? A pile of rocks?"   
    Peter smiles, "No, just a few bricks and the kitchen sink."   
    His dad grinned at him, "You're worse than both of your older sisters ever were, you know that? Get Bob and hurry up, we're going to be late."   
    Peter chuckled at the thought of either of his older sisters, both already married and out of the house, packing in such a fashion to run off and catch a train to a place like Hogwarts. He grabbed Bob's cage and was halfway down the steps before spinning around quickly and running back into his room. His mother gave an indignant shriek when he spun around but he quickly made it back to his room, grabbed his wand off his nightstand and crammed it in his pocket. Something gold and red caught his eye and at the last moment, he bolted across his room, grabbed his school scarf and wrapped it around his neck. Then he ran out of the house and into the already running car.   
    Mrs. Pettigrew chided him the entire way to London. By the time the three had finally reached Platform 9 ¾ the entire family was in a sour mood. He hugged his mom and dad, told them he'd see them around Christmas, grabbed the trolley holding his trunk and crossed the barrier, letting out a sigh of relief when he saw the Hogwarts Express still in place. However, that sigh of relief turned to sheer panic when it suddenly burst to life and began to slowly move out of the station. He rushed towards the train and almost cried in relief when he saw Remus and Sirius hop off the train, grab his trunk and yell at him to run.  
    He obliged and a moment later he was lying in a heap on the floor of the Hogwarts Express in a tangled mess with Sirius, Remus, Bob and his trunk. The three got up and took one look at the thoroughly disheveled Peter with a wand sticking out of his back and a scarf on in ninety degree weather and burst into laughter. 

~~*~~

    "Alice," a voice shrieked, followed by a bunch of other shrieks and giggles.   
    "I suspect we now know where the Gryffindor five have situated themselves for the ride," Sirius said, one hand firmly grasping the handle on Peter's trunk.   
    "How about we wait a few hours to bother them?" Remus offered. "I'm sure Frank will loose his toad at some point and they'll pop into our compartment."   
    He started shuffling towards the compartment the three Marauders had claimed earlier and stopped before the slightly ajar door.   
    "I hate to be the voice of reason, James, but you do realize that will never work, don't you?" came the calm voice of Frank Longbottom.   
    "How do you figure?" a slightly indignant James Potter countered.   
    "Well, point one, have you ever actually _seen_ the merpeople? They're nothing like those stupid Muggle fairy tales, they're quite scary really. Point two, they've got their own magic about them, if you really think you're such an astounding Second Year that _you_ can outdo them with one of your Confundus Charms, be my guest. I'm sure Peter or Remus will be there to pick up the pieces. Point three, I can't imagine Dumbledore being overly enthused to look out his study window and see all the merpeople in the school lake chasing their tails. A bit ridiculous, now isn't it?"  
    Remus and Peter exchanged a knowing glance outside the compartment. James had been hell bent on getting back at the merpeople for making fun of him when he'd fallen into the lake last year. Sirius, however, muttered, "Bloody brilliant idea" rather enthusiastically and clambered into the compartment already babbling about ways to distract the merpeople.   
    Remus smiled wryly and turned to Peter, "Can't exactly let those two lunatics loose on their own, can we?"   
    Peter chuckled slightly and grinned back at him, "Guess that wouldn't be wise." And the two boys shoved Peter's trunk into the compartment, contemplating different ways to distract James and Sirius from their merpeople torture crusade. 

~~*~~

    "I cannot believe you two," Remus hissed at James and Sirius nearly two hours later. Frank had long ago shaken his head a last time and departed the compartment in search of the Rob's.  
    "Don't tell me you're not curious. Look at this from an educational standpoint Remmy, a study of the creature habits of twelve year old girls, maybe we could submit what we learn for extra credit in Care of Magical Creatures or something," Sirius muttered quietly at him.   
    "Care of Magical Creatures? Bloody hell Sirius, it absolutely astounds me still that you were the first one to manage a girlfriend," James muttered back.   
    "If you call what occurred managing, that is," Peter chimed in.   
    "Come on Remmy, you're the only one who knows the charm. Just open it slightly, just a tad, come on now, be a mate," Sirius pleaded, pointing at the small window above them all.  
    "Lily will kill me," Remus replied, standing firm. "We're not spying on them. Can't we just be normal for once and knock on a bloody door. Is it so hard to just knock on a bloody door for a change?"  
    "He's just worried Melissa will be going on about some boy she met this summer and fell madly in love with," James said, nudging Sirius and winking slyly.   
    "What?" Remus sputtered and then regained his composure. "What do I care if she did, I mean."  
    "You know though, I did mean it, it could be useful knowing how the mind of the elusive twelve year old girl works, Remmy," Sirius said glancing meaningfully up at the small window once more.   
    Remus gave a bit of a defeated sigh. "You gits, we're going to get caught. One of them _always_ catches us and _none_ of them ever find it amusing when we're spying! Mel and Becca might never tell when it's a prank but when we're eavesdropping… it took a week for my ears to return to their normal shape last time."   
    "I've actually taken the time to look up that counter curse for that nasty little hex Mel found. You know, I've often wondered where she finds those things, she knows more than the four of us combined, I'd bet," Sirius commented. "Come on, Remmy," he whined impatiently.  
    "Fine, fine! I need a boost though, I need to actually be touching the blasted window, but when we get caught, I'm pleading Imperious Curse or something, really. Boost me, one of you prats and Pete you'd darn well better try and catch me if I fall," Remus hissed at them.  
    Sirius did a little victory dance and moved to right in front of the door, lacing together his hands as he did so. "Upsy daisy, Remmy," he grinned maniacally.   
    "We're going to die," Remus moaned quietly. "I swear, I'm more scared of those girls angry than all the Slytherins and Nackle combined."   
    "As it should be," James commented, standing in a position to help Remus up.   
    Remus shook his head one last time and stepped into Sirius's linked hands. Sirius, who had become slightly sturdier over the summer, had no trouble raising the still thin as a pole Remus up to the window height.   
    "Not so high," Remus hissed. "I don't want them to see me!"   
    "Right," Sirius mumbled and lowered himself a bit.   
    _"Flic-"_  
    "What _are_ you doing?" came an indignant voice behind them.  
    "Trixie!" Peter gasped as Sirius jumped, knocking into James, causing Remus to smash headlong into the window and crumble to the ground.   
    "Oof, what the bloody hell, Sirius?!?" Remus groaned, rubbing his head.   
    "Trixie," Sirius muttered down to him and Remus's eyes widened in horror. Just when he was sure it couldn't get worse, the compartment door flew open and smashed right into his already bruised head.   
    "What _are_ you doing?" a very pretty girl with black hair shouted into the hallway.   
    "Tessa," James muttered sheepishly. "Nice holiday, then?"   
    "Care of Magical Creatures extra credit," Peter piped up and the other three actually groaned out loud.   
    "What?" Trixie asked, looking very perplexed. "How on Earth did you get extra credit already?"  
    "We umm… the boy's loony. You all know that. Where did you get an idea like that, Pete?" Sirius said quickly.   
    Peter looked down at the floor, trying to think quickly of a way to cover up his blunder, "We were dueling. For fun. For a bit. You see. That got… dull. So. Remus thought he knew how to fly. So. So. Well… clearly, you see, he can't."  
    The entire group was looking at him as though he were mad.  
    "Right well. He couldn't start from the ground, now could he?" Peter said his voice nearly high enough to be a whine, but not quite. "Sirius boosted him and James was going to try and catch him if he fell." Suddenly Peter's face fell and he rooted in his pockets. He pulled out two galleons, giving one each to James and Sirius, then shrugging at the girls. "I bet them he could fly. Stupid, I suppose. They won."  
    The girls were still looking at all the boys now as though they were mad, but the three boys were fighting the urge to kiss Peter. From the moment he thought to pull out those galleons, the girls faces all changed from one of anger to their normal look of 'what have they been up to _now_' that they all usually wore when dealing with the Marauders.  
    "Did you really need to test the laws of aerodynamics in front of our compartment?" Alice asked, leaning out into the corridor.   
    "Well we didn't know it was your compartment, now did we? Just wound up being a… surprise," James replied, taking the galleon from Peter and pocketing it.   
    "Right-o. So how was your holiday, ladies?" Sirius said, also taking the galleon from Peter's outstretched hand.  
    Trixie just shook her head at the sight before her and turned around to head back from wherever she'd come from, muttering about "lunatic Gryffindors and their deranged ideas".  
    Tessa looked after her sadly, "She's so thin. That can't be healthy."  
    Mel slapped her lightly, "Let Trixie worry about her own weight, if you'd spent the summer dealing with the death of _your_ family do you suppose you'd be doing cartwheels though the corridors in your free time?"  
    Tessa looked after Trixie one more time and then back at the boys, "Want to come in? It'll be a bit of a squeeze but it's just us three for now. Lily's off visiting with some Ravenclaws and Becca went off in search of that bloody toad with Frank."   
    "It's really not such a bad toad," Alice began in defense.   
    "That is _not_ what you were saying when it was in your hair an hour ago," Melissa quipped and leaned back into her seat. "How did that go, exactly?"  
    "Oh, but that couldn't have been Alice," Tessa teased. "Because _ladies_ don't say things like _that_." She shook her head briskly. "No, no, I'm sure we just imagined those interesting promises about what would happen to that toad if it wound up in your hair again… something involving pickled frog guts and lunar bears, right Mel?"   
    The Marauders chuckled and settled themselves into the compartment, Remus blushing madly when he squeezed in next to Melissa.  
    Sirius settled next to Tessa and tossed an arm over her shoulder. "So, how was your summer, Tessa?"  
    She made a face and Mel chuckled. "I baby sat. I lot. I _hate_ little kids. I'm never having children, its official."  
    "Who'd you baby sit?" Peter asked from next to Remus.   
    "My neighbor's kids, they've got four," she said.   
    "But I thought you lived nearby one another? Why didn't you both baby sit them?" Sirius asked gesturing at Melissa who was beginning to giggle.   
    "Because that prat," Tessa nearly spat out, causing Melissa to giggle even more, "set a bowl of popcorn on fire the second night of holiday when she was baby sitting them and the Willoughby's asked her nicely not to baby sit again for a few more years."   
    Melissa was tearing up trying not to laugh to hard.   
    "I highly doubt that that fire was an accident," Tessa concluded, glaring over at Melissa.   
    "So then what did you get up to all summer?" Sirius asked, directing his question at Mel.  
    "Oh, not much. I helped out my dad at work sometimes. He'd pay me a bit, so that was useful," she commented, wiping away the tears.   
    "What does your dad do?" Remus asked.   
    "He's a carpenter," Melissa told them.   
    "What in the name of Merlin could you possibly do to help a carpenter?" James spat out.  
    "What are you implying, James Potter? Surely you wouldn't think that I'm incapable of hammering a simple nail just because I'm a girl?" Melissa glared at him.   
    James sat farther back into his seat to put some distance between them. "Of course not, Melissa. Dunno what I was thinking for a moment, sorry," he mumbled, causing Tessa and Alice to laugh.   
    Melissa smiled sweetly, "That's what I thought."   
    "Really though, Mel, it _isn't_ very ladylike," Alice began, but Melissa just stuck her fingers in her ears and started humming a random tune.  
    "It's pointless Alice," Tessa said sadly. "Someday she'll figure out she's a girl. Hopefully the shock won't kill her." Tessa looked at Remus, "Do pull her fingers out of her ears, will you? She can literally do that for hours."   
    The compartment chuckled as Remus grabbed her wrist lightly and pulled it away from her head.   
    "Are you done with that for the day then?" she asked irritably.   
    "Well, till dinner at least," Alice replied. Then she broke out into a large grin and shouted, "Arthur!"   
    Melissa and Tessa both groaned as Alice reached over and scooped the small toad off of Peter's shoulder.   
    "I'm going to… um… return the toad, then. See you lot later," Alice said, blushing slightly, as she left the compartment.   
    "Well, I suppose we'll see her again in the Great Hall," Mel muttered. "I really don't know what gets into you idiots. Impossible really, they're just boys." She sighed exasperatedly and looked at the four boys in the compartment with her. "Tell her, I'd swear you're all human too. Exceedingly weird and all, well maybe not you," she patted Remus on the arm and the entire compartment was startled to hear him cry out in pain.   
    "What the bloody hell?" James asked as Remus literally jumped out of his seat.   
    "James, language!" Tessa chided. "Are you alright, Remus?"   
    "Fine, peachy, really," he sputtered. "I've got to go… robes, I should. You know, change and all. School soon." He made a very ungraceful exit from the compartment.  
     "What'd I do?" Melissa asked looked thoroughly bewildered. She glanced down at her hand, gasped and murmured, "Bloody hell…"  
    "Melissa!" Tessa said shaking her head. "If we can't get you to act like a lady, you can at least try to speak like one for the sake of the rest of us."   
    "I'm going to go check on Remus," Sirius said, standing up. "When he tried to… er, fly, he bumped his head, too. Maybe it was some sort of delayed reaction of sorts or something." He waved goodbye and strolled out of the compartment, Peter following closely at his heels.  
    "What _did_ you do to him, Mel?" James asked, looking at Melissa who was studying her left hand. Other than chipped blue nail polish and a thin silver ring on her ring finger, it could've been anyone's hand in his eyes.  
    "I, uh, must've hit him a little too hard?" she offered weakly.   
    "Right," James said quietly. "I think I'll go get changed too."  
    As he walked out of the compartment he heard Tessa comment, "When'd you get that ring? I don't remember seeing it before." And Melissa replying, "It's a dopey old thing. _And_ what was that about my language?!? I've heard you curse everyone and everything from Malfoy to Dumbledore to flobberworms using a far more… creative vocabulary than I'll ever possess."  
    James shook his head at the thought of the things Cortessa could've been saying to those flobberworms and headed back to his compartment to check on Remus and give Peter his galleon back. 

~~*~~

    "I knew you liked her Remus, but normal people don't react that way to a regular old touch… well, not on the arm anyway," Sirius grinned wickedly.  
    "I don't like her like that," Remus doggedly insisted, alternating between rubbing his arm and his head.   
    "Oh here," Peter sighed. "_Ibuprofus_." He touched his wand to Remus's head.   
    The other three stopped to stare at him, he just gestured to the still visible scars on his neck and shrugged.   
    "Thanks, Pete," Remus said. "And bugger off, Sirius."   
    "Did we miss the snack witch?" Peter asked the others. "Do any of you know?"   
    James paused, sticking his arms through his robes and hitching them up onto his shoulders, "I suspect we might have, she's usually come around by now."   
    "I'm going to try and catch up to her," Peter remarked, straightening his robes and walking from the compartment.   
    "So, back to Melissa," Sirius said with a mad look in his eye.   
    "Do I need to explain the definition of 'bugger off' to you, Seer?" Remus asked testily.  
    "Really though, tell me you are planning on doing _something_ besides staring blankly at her all year," the dark hair boy replied as he sat down next to James.   
    "Let's just end this line of questioning right here, Sirius Black," Remus said. "I'm warning you."  
    "Oh no, Jamesy, he's warning me," Sirius put on a look of fake panic and grasped James's arm tightly.  
    "Get off me, you git," James said. "And leave me out of this."   
    "Right, well that's to be expected from iguana boy over there, but coming from the only one of us who's been in a relationship," Sirius was cut off by Remus.   
    "You know, we never really did get the details as to who opted to put an end to that relationship, now did we James?" Remus asked his friend, who had been looking sour since the iguana boy remark.   
    "Minor details," Sirius said, waving his hand as though to dismiss them. "Now, with Mel I think you'll need a different approach than Tessa and I used."  
    "Stop this instant, Sirius…"  
    "I doubt Mel will surprise attack you in the Common Room since I really don't think that…   
    "This is your last warning, Seer."  
    "So, I think we just might manage this if we can get our hands on six months of the _Daily Prophet_ and eleven seeds from the tentacula..."  
    "James, I highly suggest you get out of the compartment, my friend."  
    Without a seconds hesitation, James bolted into the corridor.   
    "And then she'll swoon, or…er… pass out, but anyway, you'll catch her and…"  
    "_Cumulous Maximus._" Remus recited calmly and stepped out into the corridor with James and Peter. A second later there was a flash of light, followed immediately by a startled yelp from Sirius and the unmistakable sound of a rainstorm. "I'd suggest that now might be a good time to go pay a visit to Frank," Remus told James with a grin and turned to see Peter making his way toward them, arms laden with pumpkin pasties and other goodies.   
    "Remus Lupin," Sirius growled from in the compartment and the three boys ran down the length of the corridor.   
    "Oh Merlin, I really think he's going to try and get _all_ of us, was this necessary, Remmy?" Peter squeaked as they bounded into a nearly deserted compartment and tried to slam the door as Sirius's weight smashed against it.   
    Peter shoved his wand through the crack and muttered an incantation, the result left Sirius momentarily distracted, allowing them to close the door entirely.   
    "Bloody hell, Pete," Sirius roared through the door. "Was that necessary?"  
    "What makes you think it was me?" he called out.   
    "No one else turns people this odd shade of blue! Couldn't you have used another charm?" Just then a light flashed through the window and the sound of thunder came through the door. "Fix this, Remus!" Sirius bellowed angrily.   
    "Stupid charm. I'm just fine with most of them, why can't I change bloody colors?" Peter muttered and then turned to Remus. "What _did_ you do to him?"   
    Remus pointed his wand at the door. "_Transparencius._" The door went clear and the three Marauders got a clear view of a sopping wet, blue Sirius Black standing in the middle of the corridor under a small rain cloud. "Well, I didn't turn him blue. Thanks, Pete."   
    Sirius narrowed his eyes at the boys a pointed at Remus, "This means war, you know."   
    "Sounds like fun," Remus replied cheekily and sat down.   
    "Ack, Remus gerroff me!" a squeal came from below him.   
    "Trixie! Geeze, why didn't you say anything?" Remus asked as he jumped up. He noticed that Sirius had stormed away, literally.   
    A small smile played on her lips, "Because that whole scene was rather amusing. Still having that strange color problem, Peter?"   
    Peter sighed and nodded, sitting down across from Remus and Trixie. "So how was your summer?" He winced, that probably wasn't the best question to ask her.  
    "Oh would you all stop handling me with kid gloves, it gets old very quickly…" she trailed off. The thin girl looked out the window. Normally she would have been a nearly insufferably chatterbox, but apparently recent events had taken their toll on her. She smiled wanly, "Anyway, how was all of your summers?"   
    The three boys regaled her with stories of their summers, each grinning victoriously every time they made her smile, however briefly, until the Hogwarts Express pulled into Hogsmeade.   
  
  
  
  
        _Author's Note: There's a story about this weaver who weaves invisibility cloaks, it's absolutely fantastic, and I highly suggest you all go read it (if I ever remember the name or author I'll post it) but the reason I bring that up is because the fantastic spell (that I sorely, literally, wish existed at times) **Ibuprofus** is hers and hopefully she'll forgive me for using it. :0) Happy reading. _


	3. Potions & Medallions

**Potions & Medallions**

  
    "I've got to go get my trunk, see you in the Great Hall, Trixie," Peter said and hurried off towards their compartment.   
  
     "You go, James, I ought to give Sirius some time to clear out if I don't want to be hexed into next century," Remus chuckled. James bid the two farewell and left in the direction Peter had gone off in.   
  
     "Why is Sirius sporting that lovely rain cloud?" Trixie asked him, trying to haul her trunk off the luggage rack above her head.   
  
     "You're going to get hurt," Remus said, pushing her gently aside and quickly pulling the trunk down.   
  
     "Oh my," she said. Following her finger, Remus could clearly see James and Peter cackling madly as they walked along a fair distance from Sirius to try and keep clear of the rain and lightening. "Mad, you're all mad." She smiled slightly and then looked up at him quite seriously, "Stay mad, alright Remus? Everyone needs a good chuckle sometimes."   
  
    Remus glanced down at her. Over the summer he'd grown just enough so that he was now slightly taller than she was. "I think your right. The world does need a little madness."   
  
    Her smile grew just a bit as she heaved her trunk towards the door, "See you in the Great Hall, Remus Lupin."   
  
    Remus watched her deftly tug her trunk out onto the station platform and then headed to pull of his own luggage. Peter showed up a few minutes later and grabbed one side of the trunk.   
  
     "Even stevens, now," he grinned.   
  
     "Huh?" Remus asked.   
  
     "Muggle phrase, I guess. But you helped me with my trunk, now I've helped you with yours. Even stevens," Peter shrugged.   
  
    Remus nodded, "It's a good concept." He glanced over to Sirius, "I see he's only slightly tinged blue now. That spell faded quickly."   
  
     "Yea, well. Didn't really want him to be sporting Ravenclaw colors for the Sorting, now did I?" Peter grinned impishly.   
  
    Remus chuckled, once again amazed at how well Peter could diffuse a situation. Undoubtedly, Sirius would have some foul revenge planned, but after that the 'war' was over, as far as Remus was concerned.   
  
    Peter pointed with one hand ahead of them and made a face, "That git."   
  
    Remus immediately recognized the greasy hair and precise gait of Severus Snape a few feet in front of them. "You know, Pete, this had the promise to be a very good year," Remus commented as he saw Sirius whirl around and cast a small spell to trip Snape, which sent him flying into a couple of Fourth Year Hufflepuff girls, causing them to scream shrilly and Snape to turn bright red.   


~~*~~

  
    _The Sorting is really rather dull when you're not the one up there,_ Sirius thought as he glanced at the slowly diminishing lines of First Years._ Although that Madison Bell is one cute First Year, wouldn't fancy informing her older brother of that thought though._ He glanced down the table to the tall, slim boy who'd been Seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch team for the past five years. Sirius was sure he'd be chosen as captain this year._ I sure hope I get that spot as Beater. I'm not bad, but… there could be others who are better. I'll have to haul James, Remus and Peter out there for some practice before the actual try-outs._ Then he glared over at Remus, who just raised his eyebrows in response and put on a very innocent look._ Definitely, that spell will work like a charm **then** we'll be even. Maybe. Bloody rain cloud, I really think that McGonagall was trying not to laugh when she undid that incantation. Where does he find the time to learn all these things?_ He looked back over at the First Years and grinned happily when Professor McGonagall called out Zigtwith, Harvey, who was sorted into Ravenclaw. _Yes, time for some grub! I didn't even get to eat on the train, I was going to nick some of Pete's sweets, but the bloke didn't come back until the end of the trip and he had the nerve to laugh at me sitting there sopping wet. Well, showed him, didn't I?_ Chuckling at the thought of Peter as the small rat he'd transfigured him into, Sirius glanced over at his friend who scowled back at him in return. This time Sirius grinned innocently, inwardly laughing at the fantastic resemblance Peter had had to Bob for the short time he'd managed to hold the charm.   
  
    He leaned had completely tuned out Dumbledore's commencement of term speech in favor of staring blankly at the members of his House, well, not quite all the members, more often the female ones._ Well hello Marlene McKinnon_, he thought happily._ You sure did loose some weight this summer. I wonder what the odds of a Second Year and a Sixth Year… probably not good._ He shrugged which earned him an odd look from James._ Emmaline Vance, sad to see your acne is apparently never going to clear up. Catriona…well look at that smile, you could go blind if you stare at it for too long._ His eyes moved back in the direction of Madison and Peter Bell, stopping this time to take in Margaret._ Looks like all that summer Quidditch playing definitely paid off. If she's looking for a broomstick to ride…_his thoughts trailed off and he had to fight the urge to laugh. He was well aware that the other three Marauders weren't thinking in quite the same range that he was yet and he wondered what their response to that last thought of his would be. _For Merlin's sake, what is it about women? Even if they're not all that great looking technically, they're beautiful. How do they pull that off? _Eyes widening, he took in the sight that was now Doris Crockford. Only a year above him, she and James often competed against one another in Wizard Chess. Last year she hadn't been all that noticeable, but sometime over the summer good old Mother Nature, to whom Sirius just addressed a prayer of extreme thanks, kicked in and good old Doris was now sporting one wickedly tight Gryffindor sweater. _Sweet Merlin, I'm in love._ He sighed and dropped his head into his arms to stare at her better. In doing so he managed to sink his elbow into a butter dish just as it appeared out of nowhere, announcing the start of the feast.   


~~*~~

  
     "What are you doing?"   
  
    Jumping guiltily and grinning madly, Sirius Black put the pillow back onto Remus's bed.   
  
     "Absolutely nothing at all, Pete. Where are the others?"   
  
    Peter crossed the room and glanced down at Remus's pillow. "Why don't I trust you?" he asked.   
  
     "Because you know me too well?" Sirius pulled on his pajama's and crawled into bed. "Really though, where are the others?"   
  
     "James is down in the Common Room talking to Bell about when Quidditch try-outs are going to be. McGonagall made him captain, you know. And Melissa dragged Remus off for a bit, well, she didn't exactly have to drag him," Peter said chuckling.   
  
     "Mel dragged him off?" Sirius said, sitting straight up in bed.   
  
     "Mmhmmm," Peter assented, digging in his trunk for his own pajamas. "I figured I'd just turn in. I'm pretty beat anyway. This morning was complete bedlam at my house."   
  
    Peter climbed into his bed. Sirius propped himself up on his elbows and looked over at his chubby friend. The others had all seemed to grow a bit over the summer, but Peter had somehow not gained an inch. "So how about that Madison Bell, eh Pete?"   
  
    Groaning, Peter looked over at his friend. "You're starting with that nonsense already? We've got so many more important things to do than worry about _girls_."  
  
    Sirius chuckled, "I'm not worrying at all. I just need a plan."   
  
    Groaning more softly this time, Peter rolled over muttering something along the lines of, "the relationship guru rides again, bloody fantastic" and pulled shut his curtains.   
  
    Just as he was reaching for his own, Sirius hesitated upon hearing the pounding of feet running up the steps. James came into the room a moment later grinning widely.   
  
     "Try outs are next Sunday afternoon. I was thinking the four of us could go practice a bit on Saturday, you up to it?" he said to Sirius as he pulled on his pajama pants, so excited he was hopping around, which caused him to trip and fall onto his bed.   
  
     "Am I up to it? Of all the insults, James Potter," Sirius began.   
  
     "Right, fantastic," James said, cutting him off. "I've got to write to my mum. Tell her I'm safe and all… you know, I think she expects a raging hippogriff to charge the Hogwarts Express each year… lunacy."   
  
    While James settled himself down at his desk and Sirius readjusted his pillows, Remus slipped quietly into the room and crossed to his own bed. He pulled off his robes, but didn't bother with his uniform and just climbed into bed.   
  
    A startled cry alerted James and Sirius to his presence. James jumped up to go help his friend, but Sirius had his hands firmly clamped over his mouth to keep from laughing.   
  
     "What the bloody hell… I really _don't_ need this now… what the…" Remus was sitting straight up in bed poking at his pillow. James was standing next to him when a look of comprehension crossed his face and then a scowl. "Well, Black, are we even now?" he yelled over at Sirius's bed.   
  
    Laughter met his shout and a muffled, "Even," was his reply.   
  
     "Well what _is_ this and how do I undo it?" Remus asked irritably, holding his pillow gingerly.   
  
     "Go ask McGonagall," Sirius guffawed. "She had to undo that bloody rain cloud of yours."   
  
     "I don't want to hunt down McGonagall, I just want to sleep, it's been an absolutely horrible kind day," Remus huffed glaring at his pillow.   
  
     "What do you mean it's been a horrible day? It hasn't been bad at all," James asked.   
  
     "What happened with Melissa then, Remus?" Sirius cackled.   
  
    Remus grabbed his wand and jumped out of bed. He crossed the room and pointed it at Sirius's head, "Undo whatever you did to this pillow or help me Merlin, I'll hex you into next Tuesday."   
  
    The mood in the room changed immediately from humor to anger, "What's the matter Remus, can't take a taste of your own medicine?"   
  
     "You know darn well that I can, but I just can't tonight, ok? _Okay?_" his voice rose a bit hysterically at the end and the mood took a drastic change from one of anger to one of concern in an instant.   
  
    Sirius reached for his wand and tapped the pillow, "_Finite Incantatem._" Then he looked up at Remus. "That's all there is to it. I transfigured the feathers into needles."   
  
    Remus stalked back across the room. "Bloody brilliant, pea brain," he muttered.   
  
     "Pea brain?" Sirius asked as James asked, "What is wrong with you?"   
  
     "Nothing," Remus replied, getting back into bed and checking his pillow before lying back down on it.   
  
     "What happened to your arm? That's a really nasty burn," James said, peering at a small burn on Remus's forearm.   
  
     "Nothing," Remus said, glaring at him. Then he reached for the curtains and pulled them down right in James face.   
  
     "Well, this is going to be a lovely start of term, thank you Sirius," James said as he walked back over to his desk.   
  
    Sirius opened his mouth to protest and then closed it. Clearly now was not the time to get anyone riled up. Instead he just pulled his own curtains shut and drifted off to sleep.   
  
  
  


~~*~~

  
     "Are they fighting again?" Peter asked James at breakfast the following morning.   
  
     "I don't think so," James said. "I think they're both just in mutual bad moods this morning."   
  
    Sirius was sitting down at the end of the table with the Bells, talking Quidditch. He'd arrived well after James and Peter. Remus still had not made an appearance.   
  
     "Smashing," Peter muttered and looked up in time to see Remus appear in the doorway of the Great Hall talking with Trixie McGonagall. The two went their separate ways as Trixie sat down at the Ravenclaw table and Remus walked towards the two Marauders.   
  
     "Are the two of them…?" Peter trailed off.   
  
     "I thought he fancied Melissa," James said shrugging. "Who knows?"   
  
    Remus slid into his seat then and pulled a bowl of porridge towards him. "Morning."   
  
     "How come you can handle talking to Trixie first thing in the morning, but never us?" Peter asked.   
  
     "Intelligent conversation," Remus muttered.   
  
     "Yeah but… she never shuts up," Peter said.   
  
     "That's not exactly true anymore," Remus replied, glancing over at the quiet girl sitting at the Ravenclaw table. "Actually she doesn't talk much at all anymore…"   
  
    Remus slid over as Sirius sat down next to him. "Pass the jam, Remus," Sirius said. "Right, so the four of us are going to go out to the Quidditch pitch on Saturday afternoon around two, Bell said it would be okay to go then."   
  
    James took a piece of parchment that was passed his way and glanced at it. After doing a double take, he shot a mouthful of pumpkin juice out of his mouth, drenching Remus.   
  
     "What was that, Potter?" Remus replied angrily, trying to wipe off the orangey drink.   
  
     "We have Potions with the Hufflepuffs!" He exclaimed and then repeated it even louder. "We have _Potions_ with the _Hufflepuffs_!"  
  
     "No way," Sirius said, grabbing at his paper. "My mum said that Gryffindors and Slytherins _always_ have potions together, it's like some sort of unwritten law!"   
  
    All four boys were studying their papers now.   
  
     "We don't have Care of Magical Creatures anymore, I wonder why?" Remus observed.   
  
     "Did Kettleburn get sacked?" Peter asked, wriggling around in his seat.   
  
     "No, he's up at the teachers table…" James said.   
  
    Strolling up to the table, Frank Longbottom leaned over by the Marauders and said, "Any of you lot have Care of Magical Creatures on your schedule?"   
  
     "No, you too, huh? Think it's just Gryffindor or all the houses?" James asked.   
  
     "I'm going to go find out," Frank said, crossing over to speak with Rob Davis at the Hufflepuff table who was already in conversation with Rob Cage from Ravenclaw.   
  
     "Oh man, I kinda liked Care of Magical Creatures," Sirius moaned as he stuffed his schedule into his book bag.   
  
     "Well, if you ask me, no Care of Magical Creature and Potions with the Hufflepuffs seems like the greatest year ever to me," Remus said grinning.   
  
     "I'm with you about the Potions," Peter agreed.   
  
     "Speaking of which, we've got our first lesson in it in about ten minutes. Ready for another year of good old Nackle?" James stood up and swung his book bag over his shoulder. "Last one to the dungeons is a pickled pig's foot!"   
  
     "Is he literal about that?" Peter asked, and then realized the other two were already gone. Quickly he reached down, grabbed his bag and headed after them into the dungeons.   


~~*~~

  
     "Who here thinks Nackle is _not_ happy about the Potions switch, say aye?" Remus muttered from the corner where he was working on a four foot parchment about antidotes. A four foot parchment would've been cruel enough, but whenever Nackle says the word 'antidote' _every_ student knows to listen up, since someone will probably be poisoned.   
  
     "Double aye," Peter groaned. "I'm going to be poisoned, I know it. He just loves poisoning me."   
  
     "This is not a fun way to spend our first night back," Sirius complained. "Have I mentioned I hate you, Jamesy boy? Because I really do."   
  
    James had slipped away to the library at lunch to begin his essay and had finished it nearly an hour earlier. Now finished with all his other work, James was preparing to head out to the library to do a little research. He refused to elaborate on what type of research.   
  
    Suddenly Peter looked up at the others and put a hand to his neck.   
  
     "Aright then, Pete?" James asked nervously, worried that something was wrong with his scars.   
  
     "I'm fine… just… where's my medal?" Peter asked.   
  
     "Medal? Are you sure you're alright, Pete? You've never received a medal," Sirius said.   
  
     "No, no. It's some saint thing, my mum got it for me after… well, you know. My parents believe in all that saint business. I don't usually take it off, the clasp must've slipped," Peter said, getting up to look around. "Could you guys help me? I know I had it on earlier. It's just a plain old chain with a small medal charm."   
  
    The Marauders spread out across the Common Room and began searching. About five minutes later, James let out a small whoop of triumph.   
  
     "Remmy, catch!" he yelled as he chucked the small medallion at Remus, who was stationed halfway between James and Peter.   
  
    Remus instinctively reached out his hands to grab the necklace. However, the instant it touched his skin, he howled in pain and dropped it. Peter rushed over and picked it up. He redid the clasp around his neck and looked at Remus oddly.   
  
     "Are you alright?" Peter asked.   
  
     "Fine. Just… arm cramp. Hurts. I'm going to bed," Remus muttered, quickly gathering his stuff and heading up the staircase.   
  
     "Well that was bloody odd," Sirius said. James and Peter nodded in reply.   
  
     "Can I see, Pete?" James said, leaning towards his friend who obligingly pulled the chain out from his shirt.   
  
     "It was actually my grandfather's," Peter said somewhat proudly. "Most are gold, but he was allergic, so this one's silver."   
  
     "Nice," James said and grabbed his book bag. "Well, I'm off to the library." Slipping through the hole, he tossed a rather mischievous look over his should at the other two and then disappeared.   


~~*~~

  
     "And what are you two up to?" Sirius asked Peter and James a week later. The two grinned back at him wickedly.   
  
     "Absolutely nothing," James chuckled.   
  
    Peter's eyes lit up, "But it would be a huge help if you might be able to provide us with a rather long length of rope."   
  
    Sirius raised an eyebrow at the request but merely said, "How long?"   
  
    The two Marauders bent their heads together while Sirius stood patiently above them. "About three hundred meters?"   
  
     "Give me an hour," Sirius said and slipped away quietly. James and Peter put their heads back together and continued to plot uninterrupted for a few minutes.   
  
     "You know, that's never a reassuring sight," Remus mumbled as he lowered himself onto the couch.   
  
     "Remmy, you look…" Peter began.   
  
     "Horrible," James finished. "Are you alright?"   
  
     "I'll live," the thin boy offered up wanly.   
  
     "Maybe you should go to the Hospital Wing," James suggested.   
  
    Remus made a face, "I _hate_ the Hospital Wing."   
  
     "Really?" Peter asked. "You spend so much time there, I figured you thought of it as a second home."   
  
    Remus glared at him, "How many people do you know that actually _enjoy_ the Hospital Wing?"   
  
    Peter looked down at his shoes, "It was just an observation."   
  
     "Yea, well… stop observing," Remus replied as he gingerly pulled himself off the couch and headed for the portrait hole.   
  
     "Oi, he gets weirder the longer I know him," Peter muttered still looking at his shoes.   
  
     "Ah, forget about it, Pete. He'll get over it, whatever it is," James said. "Now you go down to the kitchens and start bringing up all those peanuts. We can hide them over in that corner. People only go there to snog. I doubt anyone has ever read a single book from those bookshelves. After that, go find as much rubber cement as you can. I bet there are a few other Muggleborns who have some, too. I'll figure out a way to get a bottle of Sleekeazy hair potion gunk or whatever it's called."   
  
     "Alright," Peter agreed, scurrying towards the portrait hole.   
  
    James snuck a glance over at Melissa and Rebecca chatting in the corner. Not his first choice for girls to ask about Hair Potion, but there just might be a chance that they could procure him some. An evening late last term when the Gryffindor five had shown up for dinner looking like knock-outs stuck in his mind.   
  
     "Hello there, oh fair maidens of the Gryffindor tower," James said pompously as he slid across the room to them.   
  
    Rebecca raised an eyebrow and Melissa mouthed 'oh fair maidens' at her, her eyes twinkling with amusement.   
  
     "Out with it Potter, what do you want?" Becca demanded.   
  
    Thinking quick, James gestured to his hair and dropped the act. He offered what he thought to be his most charming little boy grin and began, "It's this stupid hair of mine. I was thinking that that hair gook you girls use, Sleekeazy is it called? It might help me tame it… but clearly I don't exactly want it getting all around the Common Room that I'm using a girl's hair potions and all. I was hoping you might be of some help."   
  
    Melissa burst into laughter and gestured at Rebecca's long, straight hair that was pulled up in a simple ponytail and her mass of frizzy, unruly curls. "Does it look like either of us use hair potions, James?"   
  
     "Well… er," James had a feeling this was a bit of a trick question. Then he beamed, "With natural beauty like yours, who needs hair potion. I was just hoping you might be able to tell me from whom I might procure a bottle."   
  
    Rebecca shook her head disbelievingly and Melissa quirked an eyebrow at that. But Becca then just shrugged, "Tessa's your girl if you want any sort of beauty products. She's got everything under the sun."   
  
    James put on a rather sad face, "But isn't Tessa upstairs? We both know I can't get up there."   
  
    Melissa narrowed her eyes at him, "You know, Becca, I suspect ulterior motives here…"   
  
    Rebecca just grinned, "Just leave me out of it, Potter. I'll go see if she'll lend you a bottle, you whacko." She hopped up and headed for the girls dormitories.   
  
     "Did she just call me a whacko?" James asked, an amused grin playing on his lips.   
  
    Melissa just rolled her eyes and gestured for him to sit. "So what are you up to?"   
  
     "That would spoil all the fun, Mel," James replied taking his seat.   
  
     "And where are the other three?"   
  
     "Remus wandered off, to the infirmary I believe. Peter is off nicking food from the kitchens and… Sirius, well, in all honesty, I don't know exactly what he's doing," James said. "What've the other Gryffindor four been up to?"   
  
     "Oh, you know Lily. She's already slave driving us about homework. Becca and I escaped from the dorm before she got too bad. Can you believe she's already started on us about O.W.L.s? We've got nearly four years… the lunatic," Melissa said, muttering the last two words.   
  
     "Well, I'm with you on that one. Lily Evans is definitely not my favorite person," James conceded.   
  
    Suddenly a mass was dropped on his lap and he looked up to see Sirius sauntering back towards the boys dormitory.   
  
     "What on Earth?" Melissa asked staring at the bundle James was cradling.   
  
     "Umm… rope," James grinned. A moment later the portrait hole swung open and Peter stumbled in, his arms grasping a huge bag, and headed for a distant corner.   
  
    Melissa held up her hands in a gesture of surrender, "I don't even want to know." She stood up and headed for the girls dormitory as Becca appeared at the bottom step.   
  
     "Potter," she yelled as she chucked a bottle at James. He easily caught it and grinned back at her.  
  
     "Thanks," he yelled back.   
  
     "She said try not to use it all," Becca called back as she turned to ascend the steps with Melissa.   
  
    James got up and walked over to the corner holding three huge bags of peanuts and added the length of rope and bottle of hair potion. Tonight was going to be a lot of fun.   
  



	4. Chasing the Broom Closet

  


**Chasing the Broom Closet**

  
    "Sure you guys don't need help?" Sirius asked as he climbed into bed.  
  
     "Help? Oh Merlin, what are you lot up to?" Frank mumbled groggily.   
  
     "Don't worry about it, Frank, just get some sleep," James assured him and gave Sirius an appraising look. "Well, Seer, if you _think_ you can keep up with us…"  
  
     "You think _I'd_ have trouble keeping up with a Potter and a Pettigrew? Don't make me laugh, James, really," Sirius said, scrambling back out of bed and tucking his wand into the waistband of his pajamas. "So what are we up to?"   
  
    James motioned to Sirius to follow him out the door, "We have to catch up with Peter in the Common Room, come on."   
  
    Frank groaned loudly at the sight of them hurrying to the door and rolled over.   
  
     "Pete?" James called quietly into the now deserted Common Room.   
  
     "Over here, James," Peter called out from the slightly hidden corner. "Sirius?"   
  
     "So what're we doing?" Sirius asked, rubbing his hands together gleefully.   
  
     "Waiting," Peter replied. "Lily and Alice _just_ went up. I think to be safe we've got at least an hour to kill."   
  
     "An hour? What're we going to do for an hour?" Sirius moaned.   
  
    Peter shook his head, "That's why Remus would've been so much better for this prank. He's got patience at least."   
  
     "We've got patience, right Jamesy?" Sirius said, settling into an armchair by Peter. "So, what's going on in the gossip mill these days? And where is Remus exactly? Don't tell me he's back in the Hospital Wing _again_."  
  
     "Actually, Seer…" Peter nodded.   
  
     "That lad is unbelievable. You know, I think there's really something wrong with him," Sirius reiterated.   
  
     "We know you think that," Peter groaned. "And you need to stop thinking that since all it does is cause fights between you two."   
  
     "Can I help it if old Remmy is in denial about… whatever it is that keeps dragging his carcass back into the Hospital Wing?" Sirius said and then looked at James. "You're being abnormally silent. Kneazle got your tongue?"   
  
    James shook his head, opened his mouth and then closed it again.   
  
     "What?" Peter asked. "Come on, we've got nearly an hour to kill James."   
  
     "What's on your mind, Potter?" Sirius prompted.   
  
     "Nothing, Black. Get off my case," James replied with an odd look on his face.   
  
     "'Get off my case'? Now you sound like Remus, my friend, and as much as I do truly adore one Remus Lupin, two would be one too many to handle," Sirius retorted. "What's your take on old Remmy's medical issues?"   
  
     "My take is that they're none of my business and maybe we just don't understand," James shot back quickly.   
  
     "Well if he told us, maybe we could understand," Sirius said.   
  
     "Maybe it's not exactly something most people would be very receptive to," James replied very softly, gazing out the window.   
  
     "But we're not people," Peter complained. "We're us. Whatever happened to no secrets between Marauders?"   
  
     "I think that was Sirius's grand idea that caused that huge fight, wasn't it Seer?" James asked, trying to change the subject.   
  
     "What's Remus's secret, James?" Sirius said peering at him intently.   
  
     "I'm not sure," James replied slowly, stretching out each word. "But even if I do have an idea… it's not my secret to share."   
  
    The other two glared at him but James just shrugged and glanced at his wristwatch. "Look at the time. I think we can start now."   
  
    He hitched the rope of over his shoulder and started towards the girls dormitory staircase. When he got there he unraveled the rope and split it in two, taking both ends and making small lassos. Then he curled up one rope and left the other unfurled at his feet. "Well, are you prats coming or what?"   
  
     "So, exactly what are we doing, James?" Sirius asked, crossing the room to where his friend was awaiting him.   
  
     "Just a little harmless torture," James grinned as he tossed the rope up the steps, lassoing as torch bracket several feet into the stairway.   
  
     "I don't understand this part James, why is the rope necessary?" Peter asked.   
  
    James grinned, "Trust me, we'll get nowhere without this rope." James tugged it a bit, testing to make sure it could hold his weight and stepped onto the girl's dormitory staircase. The steps promptly slid together creating a large slide and James tightened his grip and pulled himself up even with the torch bracket, where he then lassoed the next one up. "Meet you in the Second Year girls dorm and for Merlin's sake, be quiet."   
  
    Sirius and Peter glanced at one another. The two boys then raced to the staircase to begin pulling themselves up into the girls dormitory.   


~~*~~

  
    Early the next morning, residents of Gryffindor Tower awoke to several angry shouts. Many of the boys (James, Sirius and Peter included) rushed down into the Common Room to see what was the matter.   
  
    Standing in the Common Room were five very angry Second Year girls. Also, from various spots on the staircase people were shouting to for help, claiming to be stuck.   
  
     "You," Alice Longbottom, usually sweet and relatively quiet, growled at Peter.   
  
    Margaret Bell stormed up to James and Sirius, "You changed my clock. I slept through the Quidditch meeting!"   
  
     "There are peanuts all over our dormitory," Lily sputtered angrily.   
  
     "You _rubber cemented_ the railing. _Rubber cement_!" Tessa yelled shrilly. "There are five different people stuck to the bloody thing right now!"   
  
     "Which one of you beyond the pale gits changed all the feathers in our pillows to needles? It was _not_ appreciated," Rebecca said quietly, glaring at the three Marauders.   
  
    Melissa appeared rather dazed and nowhere near as angry as the others, but quickly added in a sleep muddled and somewhat shocked tone, "I slid off the toilet. Did you grease the toilet seats? Bloody hell, I slid off the toilet."   
  
    The majority of people now gathered in the Common Room were chuckling at the expense of the Second Years. Sounds could be heard from the staircase indicating that other Gryffindors were attempting to help out the girls stuck to the railing.   
  
    Peter, James and Sirius stood amongst the boys attempting to bite back their laughter as Melissa and Tessa slowly retreated back towards the dormitory, Melissa still mumbling about 'sliding off the toilet' and Tessa cautioning her not to touch the railing.   
  
    Alice, Rebecca and Lily remained as the Common Room thinned out.   
  
     "So that's what the Sleekeazy potion was for, huh James?" Rebecca glared at him.   
  
     "You're going to pay for this," Lily said, glowering at the three boys. "Oh, are you ever. Come on girls." She started up the stairs and the other three followed her.   
  
     "Wicked," James murmured and headed back up to the boys dormitory. "Well, we've still got a few hours until the Quidditch try outs. Let's get some sleep."   


~~*~~

  
     "Rebecca?" Sirius asked in a surprised tone. "What're you doing here?"   
  
     "Don't tell me you don't think girls can play Quidditch, Black?" Rebecca Longbottom glared at him.   
  
    James smirked and called over his shoulder as he began to run the rest of the way to the pitch, "Well, _I_ certainly didn't!"   
  
    Chuckling, Sirius ran off after him amidst Rebecca's outraged cry of, "_Boys_!"  
  
    As they reached the pitch James slowed down and glanced around. Several other Gryffindors, more than there were open spots on the team, were clustered around the middle of the pitch, waiting for the last three stragglers to catch up. In the middle of the cluster were Peter and Margaret Bell and Alan Beamish, the remainders of the team from last year.   
  
     "Right then, all here?" Peter bellowed to the group. "Everyone going out for Chaser, over to that bench. Beaters, over to that bench and Keepers head down towards that goal area. One of us will be down to speak with each group and warm you up before the real tryouts begin. Just so you're aware, this is my final year and I have every intention of winning that Quidditch Cup, understand? If you make the team, you will eat, breathe and sleep Quidditch until May. If that doesn't sound like something you're up for, then I suggest that you head back up to Gryffindor Tower right now, we'll see you in the stands." He looked around at the group of eager, nervous faces staring back at him. "Right then. Meg, take the Chasers over there. Al, you warm up the Beaters and I'll take anyone going out for Keeper." He strode off towards the goal posts.   
  
     "Well, I guess I'll catch you on the flipside, eh Sirius?" James grinned cockily and shouldered his broomstick.   
  
     "Right," Sirius replied with a similar grin, following after Alan Beamish.   
  
    James turned and headed towards Margaret Bell, he noticed that it was only himself and Rebecca heading over there. He shot a grin at her and she scowled back at him in return.   
  
     "Just the two of you, then?" Margaret asked, grinning. "Well, come on, let's stretch." She dropped lithely to the ground, stretched out her legs and started stretching towards her toes. James and Rebecca followed suit.   
  
     "You know there's only one spot open, Becca, don't you?" James muttered to her as they stretched.   
  
    Rebecca just glared at him, but Margaret spoke up, "That's debatable actually. Alan's been dying to go out for Keeper since Second Year, but no one would've been able to take Harvey Wood's place. The man was unstoppable. His brother Henry is trying out today, I think." Margaret paused to look around the field and then gestured towards where the Beaters were warming up. "But he's nothing compared to Harvey. Anyway, there's a chance you could both make the team. If not, well, there's always the reserves, isn't there, and that's not such a bad place to start." She picked up her broom. "Come on, lets do some warm up laps."   
  
    As James glanced down at the field below him, he saw Sirius and three others tossing around a Quaffle and four different people trying to block Peter's goals down in the goal area. After two laps, Margaret returned to the ground and grabbed a Quaffle. "Time for some fun, ladies and gentlemen," she shouted to them as she lobbed the ball at Rebecca.   


~~*~~

  
    James and Sirius shuffled into the Common Room sweaty, dirty and thoroughly disheveled.   
  
     "So how'd it go?" Remus asked, looking up from one of his books.   
  
     "Nice to see you're back in the land of the living," Sirius commented. "I need a shower. Yell if they post the list, eh James?"   
  
     "Not on your life, Black. I'm going to be right in the stall next to you," James groaned as he hauled himself slowly up the stairs. "Yell for us if they post it, Remus, will you?"   
  
    Remus nodded and bent his head back into his book. A few moments later he noticed the two Bells and Alan Beamish make their way through the portrait hole and into a nearby corner. Both were smattered with dirt and talking excitedly, carrying a piece of parchment. They sat down for a few moments and then Peter got up and, with a quick sticking spell, posted a piece of parchment on the announcements board.   
  
    Feeling that James and Sirius both needed their showers, Remus decided not to yell but to go over and check for himself. Posted in a prime spot on the center of the board, Remus easily read:   


**Gryffindor Lion's Quidditch Team   
  
Captain and Seeker  
  
Bell, P.   
  
Keeper  
  
Beamish, A.   
McDonald, N. (Reserve)   
  
Chasers  
  
Bell, M.   
Longbottom, R.   
Potter, J.   
  
Beaters  
  
McKinnon, M.   
Vance, E.   
Wood, H. (Reserve)**

  
    Remus winced. _Well, I'm definitely not hunting down Sirius now_, he thought. _At least James made it, apparently Rebecca did, too_. A second later he was jostled out of the way by all the Gryffindors who had tried out. He saw Emmaline Vance and Marlene McKinnon high five each other and grin widely. Settling back down onto the couch with his book, he noticed two very wet blurs shoot past him. The one with very messy hair yelped and shot his hand up into the air in a gesture of victory, then turned to glance at the other boy.   
  
    Sirius just shrugged his shoulders and then offered James a small grin. "Way to go, James. I'm sure I'll make it when Em and Marlene graduate. That's only two more years."   
  
    Remus saw James wince. "Maybe you can make reserve next year, Wood is graduating this year," he offered.   
  
     "Yea, maybe," Sirius started towards the stairs. "I'm going to go dry off."   
  
    James wandered over to Remus, still dripping water all over his robes.   
  
     "I see congratulations are in order," Remus grinned at him.   
  
    James scowled, "Sirius was better than Vance _and_ McKinnon. I bet Em only made the team because Bell likes her."   
  
    Remus raised an eyebrow, "I wouldn't go around projecting that opinion if you want to live to thirteen, James."   
  
    His shoulders fell, "I know. I really do know, just… it was supposed to be me and Sirius… now it's just not as good."   
  
     "You still made the team, and it's not even as though you beat him out of his own position," Remus replied. "He'll be happy for you once he gets over it, and you were right, he can always try out next year."   
  
    James offered Remus a small smile. "Thanks. You're gonna come to the games, right?"   
  
     "Well _someone_ needs to keep Sirius in check. Really, the boy is like a puppy that needs constant watching sometimes," Remus replied reopening his book.   
  
    James's grin widened and he slapped his friend on the back, "Thanks. I'd better go dry off." And with that, James sprinted up the steps.   


~~*~~

  
    The next month passed rather uneventfully. James headed off to Quidditch practice every morning before the crack of dawn, Sirius plotted different pranks to torture students and staff alike, Peter wandered the corridors looking for new hallways and hidden passages, and Remus spent another weekend in the infirmary.   
  
     "Oof."   
  
     "Oh Merlin, I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going."   
  
     "No, it's entirely my- Evans?"   
  
     "Potter?"   
  
    James shook his head as he watched the short red head whirl on her heel and stalk away from him, muttering foul things that could even make Sirius's eyes widen in surprise under her breath.   
  
     "What was that about?"   
  
    Looking up, James saw Peter standing a few feet away. Peter walked forward, picked up James's broom and handed it to him.   
  
     "Evans," James growled slightly, then chuckled, "I think she's still a bit bitter about getting stuck to the railing in September."   
  
    Peter joined in laughing. "Well, we certainly did manage to alienate all of the Gryffindor five with that one. Lily's only just begun to speak to Remus again and he wasn't even there that night."   
  
     "Ah, that's right. I'd forgotten Remus missed out on that," James said, shouldering his broomstick.   
  
     "He was in the infirmary again then, wasn't he? And he just got back from another stint in there last evening. I really am beginning to think Sirius may be on to something," Peter said as he began to shuffle along next to James.   
  
    Attempting to change the subject, James looked his friend over, "What are you doing up and around at this hour?"   
  
     "Following a broom closet," Peter replied as though it were a most normal thing to be doing at quarter after seven in the morning.   
  
     "Ah, of course," James replied, saddling Peter with an odd look. "Following a broom closet, perfectly normal that is."   
  
    Peter blushed at his friend's teasing, "Actually… yes. You see, it moves."   
  
     "The broom closet moves?"   
  
     "Didn't I just say that?"   
  
     "Well… most don't, you know."   
  
     "Of course I know. I _am_ Muggle born and raised. Our broom closets certainly don't move."   
  
     "And you're following this one because…"  
  
     "It's the only one that seems to actually… move. And at random too. I've almost got the timing down, but it'll move even if something… say, a person, is in it. I don't know how to chart it though, I'm trying to figure out if there's some sort of pattern."   
  
     "And you do this at seven in the morning?"   
  
     "Actually, I began at about quarter of six."   
  
    James stared at him, mouth agape. "Quarter of six? That's only about fifteen minutes after _I_ leave. And, as I recall, you're not exactly one for waking early, Pete."   
  
    Peter shrugged. "The castle is quiet and no one cares if you're up early as long as you're not out late… something to keep in mind for future pranks."   
  
     "But is a broom closet really that important?"   
  
    Peter slowly turned very red and glanced down at the floor, "I can find the broom closet."   
  
     "That makes absolutely no sense, Pete."   
  
    Peter stopped walking and looked up at James. He hesitated for a moment and then shrugged, "You and Sirius and Remus, you lot… you're all so smart and _everyone_ wonders why you spend any time with me… like I'm not good enough to hang out with you."   
  
    James opened his mouth to interrupt but Peter shook his head and held up his hand, "No, no. I know I'm good enough to hang out with, I mean… you all must see something. And that stupid map, well… I can plot it. I really can. I've got this strange sense of direction. I mean, to make the map do everything Sirius wants it to do, there will be so many complicated spells and such… I might not be able to do them… but this, doing something like chasing a broom closet so I can plot it right, I can do that."   
  
    Peter paused to catch his breath after that tirade and then shrugged once more, grinning a self-effaced grin, "Even if it does meaning waking up before the bloody crack of dawn."   
  
    James stared at his shorter, chubbier friend and then shook his head in what appeared to be amazement, "You're something else, Pete. You're a bloody lunatic, but you're something else."   
  
    Peter laughed as James slapped him on the back and called out, "Race you to the Tower."   
  
    Peter groaned as the muddy shape of his best friend shot past him in the direction of the Gryffindor Common Room. 


	5. In the Library & Through the Step

  
  
  
  


**In the Library & Through the Step**

  
  
  
  
    "Hello, Remus."  
  
    Remus jumped as though goosed. He knew that voice. He spent night after night dreaming about that voice. _But what is she doing here? And why is she talking to me? Lily won't let any of them talk to any of us…_ He nearly grinned despite himself._ Although if any of them were going to tell Lily to go fly a kite, it would be her_. Finally he looked up.   
  
     "Hello, Mel."   
  
    _Oh just look at her_. Remus began to pray fervently that he wasn't turning red. Melissa broke into a wide smile and plopped down next to him at the table. _Look at that smile, she just lit up the library, honest to Merlin_. She put a finger to her lips and her innocent smile turned into a slightly wicked grin.   
  
     "Lily is on the loose," she leaned closer to him to whisper._ I think I'm going to die,_ Remus thought in a fever as her hair brushed his shoulder for a second. _What a great way to go_. "I _need_ to escape, or I will kill her. Slowly. With great pain."   
  
    Remus chuckled quietly. "Is she on again about Nackle and Flitwick both giving an exam on the same day."   
  
    Melissa rolled her eyes and groaned, while nodding. Then her glance slipped over to the book in front of Remus.   
  
     "That's from the restricted section," Melissa gasped, eyes widening.   
  
     "Oh, well… yea. Emerson let me have a note to read it," Remus said, abnormally pleased that she looked so impressed with his reading choice.   
  
     "What's it about?"   
  
     "How'd you know it was from the restricted section?"   
  
    They laughed quietly as they asked the questions at the same time. Melissa made a little shake of her head, as though to say 'well…?', pushed her glasses up her nose, tried, unsuccessfully, to stuff her frizzy hair behind an ear and leaned a bit closer to Remus to tug the book near her.   
  
     "Uh, well… dark creatures," Remus muttered, suddenly remembering why he'd been given permission to read the book so easily and blushed.   
  
     "What about them?" Melissa inquired, looking very interested.   
  
     "Where's your ring?" He'd noticed that she'd stopped wearing the ring she had on back on the train during the first day of classes, but he hadn't had a chance to ask her why.   
  
    She blushed, "I'm not much of a jewelry kind of girl." Then she made a squeaking noise, "How to _kill_ dark creatures?" She glared at Remus. "_What_ are you thinking?"   
  
     "What? Huh? There's more here than how to kill them, that's part of every book about every dark creature. What do you mean what am I thinking?"   
  
    _She knows. She knows. She knows. Oh Merlin, that's what that stupid fight was about the first night back. She was hinting that she knew but I just told her to shut up, she didn't know me at all. She knows._   
  
    Melissa caught herself. "I just mean, well… maybe some dark creatures are more misunderstood… just, you shouldn't kill them. None of them." She looked right at him. "No matter what." She reached out and gently touch the same place she'd burned on the train, the scar was still there, and visible since Remus had rolled up his sleeves during some point in his studying.   
  
    Suddenly Remus dropped his head into his arms onto the table. "Did you tell the others?" his voice was muffled by the wood and parchments.   
  
    Melissa snorted, "No. For Merlin's sake, Alice and Becca believe every stupid tale their parents used to feed them… but, anyway… it's not my secret to tell."      "How'd you figure it out?"   
  
     "You're always sick…" He felt her lay a hand gently on his shoulder and pull him back into a sitting position. "The ring, really. I'm so sorry, I didn't even realize and I wasn't trying to… I forgot I had it on and I forgot that it could hurt you…"   
  
    Remus let out a long breath, not even realizing he'd been holding it. "It's alright."   
  
     "But who cares, right? I mean, most of the time, you're just Remus. And, you've got to admit, you're the antithesis of werewolf on those days." He tensed when she actually said the word. _Werewolf_.   
  
     "Antithesis? And Lily says you don't study enough. Where do you pick up words like that?"   
  
    Melissa chuckled, "I teethed on a dictionary." She smiled warmly. "And the other Marauders certainly don't seem to care."   
  
    He cut her off with a worried look, "The other Marauder's have no idea, Mel. Don't say anything to them, please."   
  
    With a clear look of surprise in her eyes, Melissa sat back. "They don't know? How could you _not_ tell your best friends?"   
  
    Remus snorted, "Pretty easily. None of them are really any good at keeping secrets."   
  
     "But one like that-"  
  
     "-any secret, Mel. I'll… well, I will tell them someday, I guess. If I have to…" he trailed off. "You don't hate me then? Or think Dumbledore's a madman for letting me come here?"   
  
    A small smile slid across the slight girl's countenance, "Well of course I think Dumbledore's a madman, why do you suppose I like Hogwarts so much?" Her expression turned serious, "But I don't hate you, Remus." She hopped up, her books in hand. "You're far too much fun to hate." She gently squeezed his shoulder and then headed back in the direction she'd initially come from.   
  
    Remus broke into a very wide grin. _You're far too much fun to hate. She thinks I'm fun!_ His face broke out into another blush that he had a bit of trouble explaining to Sirius when he bounded over to the table a moment later.   


~~*~~

  
    Peter scurried down the hall quickly. Up ahead he could see the lanky frame of one of his best friends speaking with Frank Longbottom and the Rob's.   
  
     "Sirius," Peter yelled.   
  
    The boy whirled around and smirked at his best friend, "Yesssss?"   
  
     "We need your help!"   
  
    Whatever it was in Peter's tone of voice, Sirius immediately bid the others farewell and rushed off after the plump boy. "What is it?"   
  
     "The trick step."   
  
     "Who's stuck this time? And why is that so urgent?" Sirius asked, rather annoyed that his discussion with Rob Cage about the finer points of Madison Bell had been interrupted.   
  
     "He's not stuck, he-" The two rounded the final corner to see James perched a level above the step, talking to what appeared to be… the step below him. "fell _through_ the step. He's… gone."   
  
     "Remus?" Sirius asked, looking to James for confirmation. He nodded his head.   
  
     "I need you to hold my ankles and lower me through the step," James said without even a glance in Sirius's direction.   
  
     "I'll go," Sirius offered stepping forward.   
  
     "No, you're too broad. I'm the only one thin enough to fit through the space," James said. "Now would you come on! Who knows what's down there?"   
  
    The argument gone out of him, Sirius firmly grasped James legs as the boy began to crawl head first into the step.   
  
     "This is surreal," Peter muttered as he hopped down to the lower step, ready to grab should Sirius's grip slip. He glanced at James and Sirius only to realize that James was entirely submerged in the step and Sirius was pulled in up to his forearms. "Are you alright, Seer?"   
  
    Sirius grunted in reply.   
  
     "Black, Pettigrew! What are you doing?" Both of their eyes widened in shock as Filch came sprinting toward them. He smacked into Sirius, causing both of them to tumble and Sirius to loose his grip on James. Sirius, Filch and Peter all began to scream bloody murder, the former two as they fell down the steps and the latter as he realized that the step had now apparently eaten two of his friends.   
  
    As though this scene weren't chaos enough, before Filch or Sirius even had a chance to recover from the tumble, Peeves the poltergeist shot out of a nearby wall and began to bombard the three with goo filled water balloons. Without a second glance back at the boys, Filch took off after Peeves.   
  
    Sirius and Peter's gazes met and Peter watched as the tall, dark haired boy crumbled to the ground. Peter quickly rushed to his side.   
  
     "They can't be _gone_, Sirius, really they can't be. Dumbledore wouldn't allow something like that in Hogwarts. I'm sure they're… they're fine, I bet. Come on, we'll just go get McGonagall and she'll get them and everything will be fine. We weren't _doing_ anything wrong. Come on, Seer. Come on," Peter crumbled next to him. "They can't be… no, they just aren't. A step couldn't… not to James and Remus…"  
  
     "What the bloody hell are those sods doing?"   
  
    The two miserable boys sitting dazedly on the floor whipped their heads in the direction of the sound just in time to see two thoroughly disheveled boys tumbling out of a nearby door. Remus was attempting to dust off his robes as James pulled off the glasses that were lying askew on his face to wipe the muck off of them.   
  
     "Where?" Sirius began.   
  
     "How?" Peter added fully perplexed.   
  
     "Seems to go to some sort of mad storage room," James commented.   
  
     "You slide through it nearly, very odd. Like a long slide… saw a cow at one point, thought of you, Seer," Remus grinned stepping towards the other two boys.   
  
     "A… storage room with… cows?" Peter said slowly as he climbed to his feet.   
  
    Remus nodded as James cocked an eyebrow at his best friends, "What, did you think? A step was going to do us in?"   
  
     "Well, you certainly did before you fell through it too," Peter squeaked, near ready to pass out in relief.   
  
     "Sirius?" Remus asked, looking carefully at his friend, dropping his previously teasing tone. The tall, dark haired boy dragged himself to his feet and glared at his two dusty friends.   
  
     "You great sodding gits," Sirius muttered, clapping them both harder than usual on the backs before starting off in the direction of the Great Hall.   


~~*~~

  
     "Oi, Pete, Sirius!" James came bursting into the Common Room. "I've been looking for you all day!"   
  
     "Well, you've found us," Peter said, setting down his quill on his Herbology parchment.   
  
     "Hey mates." The three whirled around as Remus dragged himself through the portrait hole and collapsed into a nearby chair. Despite Remus's absolutely horrid state, James's smile broadened even more at the approach of his dear friend.   
  
    Remus cocked an eyebrow at James, figuring another mad scheme was about to come flooding out of his mouth and nearly fell out of his chair when it was nothing of the sorts.   
  
     "What _have_ you been doing with Melissa Denezyuk, Remus?" James launched at him.   
  
    Remus choked and his eyes widened, "Excuse me?"   
  
     "Rumor has it that you and the lovely Ms. Denezyuk have been seen hiding in various dark corners of the library without the company of either of your friends for _hours_ on end," James announced proudly to the group.   
  
     "Excuse me?" Remus reiterated, beginning to blush.   
  
     "Remmy? You finally did something about that? About time," Sirius crowed and happily slapped his back. "You sly old dog."   
  
     "We're not," Remus sputtered. "We've just been doing homework. Lily's been driving her mad about her studies recently. Honestly, we've just been doing homework."   
  
     "I didn't know they offered anatomy in wizarding schools," Peter mused with a smirk.   
  
     "It's not what you think!" Remus stammered, growing redder by the second.   
  
     "Of course not."   
  
     "Never is."   
  
    Remus leaned back and groaned in frustration.   
  
     "So…" Sirius prompted.   
  
     "It's absolutely _nothing_," Remus barked at them and hauled himself up off the chair. "I'm going to bed."   
  
    As Remus departed James burst into laughter.   
  
     "Where'd you hear _that_ rumor?" Peter asked.   
  
    James shrugged casually and leaned back in his chair. "Made it up. I've only actually seen them together in the library once."   
  
    Sirius burst into raucous laughter, slapping his knee. "You definitely have too much time on your hands, Jamesy boy."   
  
    Shaking his name at the use of the horrible nickname, James pulled a textbook out of his book bag and began studying, still chuckling to himself quietly.   


~~*~~

  
     "What are you doing?"   
  
    Remus whirled around guiltily. "Ah, Frank. Right then, didn't see you there."   
  
    Frank shook his head and glanced in the direction of Remus. "Socks?"   
  
    Remus grinned, "Ah, yes. Socks."   
  
    Frank made a gesture as though to say 'and what are you doing to the socks?'.   
  
     "Just a bit of revenge…" Remus trailed off and picked his wand up again.   
  
     "Ah, revenge. Speaking of which, might one of you sodding idiots be kind enough to explain to Alice and Rebecca that I really had no idea what you were doing back in September. They're both still on about it and don't entirely believe I was innocent." Frank walked into the bathroom doorway and began to brush his hair.   
  
     "Actually, I wasn't one of the sodding idiots that evening. I was in the infirmary." Remus waved his wand over the socks twice, muttering two different incantations, and then glanced at the pages of a book lying open upon his bed, smiling. "That should do it."   
  
     "None of those socks are mine, correct?" Frank asked as he reached for his toothbrush.   
  
     "No, James and Sirius. Don't worry about it," Remus replied as he gingerly picked one set up and tossed it onto the chaos Sirius Black called a bed. He then carefully placed the next set along the top of James trunk.   
  
    Frank came out of the bathroom and looked in the direction of the socks. "So what do those do?"   
  
     "Let's just say they're in for a bit of a… shock."   
  
    Frank quirked an eyebrow at him, grinning slightly while shaking his head, "I've got no idea what you mean, but I'm sure it'll be amusing."   
  
     "Going somewhere?" Remus asked looking over his friend. Frank turned a slight shade of red.   
  
     "Er… just to study with ah… Alice, you know."   
  
    Remus chuckled as Frank then quickly scurried out of the dormitory and down the steps.   


~~*~~

  
     "Very funny, Lupin," James Potter said as he sat down for breakfast and tossed a pair of socks onto Remus Lupin's plate.   
  
     "Yuck," Peter commented as Remus pulled the socks off his toast, while giving James a most innocent look.   
  
     "I damn near fell off my broom when those bloody things started shocking my feet. It's like I'd jammed my foot in one of those Muggle ecklewristnasties outlets." Glaring angrily at his thin friend, James pulled over a bowl of porridge.   
  
    Peter snorted into his cereal.   
  
     "What?" James asked, his sour mood still apparent.   
  
     "Ecklewristnasties?"   
  
     "Yea? So."   
  
     "I suppose you were aiming to say electricity?"   
  
    James waved a hand dismissing him. "Whatever. Where's Sirius?"   
  
    Remus and Peter both snorted this time.   
  
     "Upstairs trying to figure out what in the name of Merlin is wrong with _his_ feet," Remus said gleefully.   
  
     "You know, Remmy," Peter began, "I don't think I've ever seen you so chipper in the morning."   
  
    Remus just laughed some more and grabbed another piece of toast.   
  
     "So, Halloween Feast tonight, then?" Peter commented, attempting to get his friends speaking again.   
  
     "Mmmm… I love the feasts," Remus said, his eyes beginning to glaze over as his thoughts drifted to the different desserts the house elves so skillfully prepared for such events.   
  
    James and Peter nodded in agreement. "Boggarts today though, in Defense Against the Dark Arts, that Emerson's a loon."   
  
     "How'd you know that?" James asked Remus.   
  
     "I was talking with Trixie yesterday. Their class does everything a day ahead of ours."   
  
     "What's a boggart?" Peter asked.   
  
     "Eh, kinda like the Muggle boogeyman from what I can surmise," Remus said. "It likes dark places like basements and under beds and it turns into whatever will scare you the most."   
  
    Peter swallowed hard, "Just great. How do you get rid of it?"   
  
    James and Remus both shrugged. "Dunno. Guess we'll find out." 


	6. Boggarts & Babies

  


**Boggarts & Babies**

  
    The abnormally tall man strode to the front of the classroom. "Well? Sit down then," he bellowed in a deep baritone voice.   
  
    The Marauders quickly slipped into their seats in the back of the classroom. Last year's Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Eugene Shackelbolt, had resigned from the position to go out in search of more practical experience. To replace him, Dumbledore had hired Raleigh Emerson, a very tall, very thin man who looked very much like a bowtruckle, with a disturbingly deep voice. The majority of the students were in agreement that the man was nuttters but knew his stuff.   
  
     "Wands out. Today we'll be studying boggarts. Who can tell me what a boggart is?" He rested his hand on top of a large box that had begun to rattle. Sirius looked over and saw that Peter and Remus had paled considerably. Last time a professor had started asking questions about a boxed creature, neither of them had seen daylight for weeks.   
  
    Severus Snape raised his hand. Emerson acknowledged him with a nod. "It's a shape shifter, sir. It will proceed to take the shape of whatever will frighten us most. They like dark, enclosed spaces such as cupboards and gaps below beds."   
  
     "Very good, Mr. Snape, ten points to Slytherin. Now perhaps you might tell me what sort of advantage we will have over it?"   
  
     "Well, there are a lot of us here. It won't know what to become immediately."   
  
     "Exactly, another five for Slytherin. Now everyone, wands out. You need to know the charm to banish the boggart and that is _Riddikulus_. Everyone now."   
  
    The class all proceeded to wave their wands and mutter the incantation.   
  
     "However, what will really finish a boggart off is laughter. Therefore, when you take your turn in facing the boggart you will need to find some way to make it appear humorous. In doing so, you will manage to defeat it. Right then, everyone up and in a line. Miss Longbottom if you might begin. I'll open the box…" Emerson stepped behind his desk and unlatched the large box.   
  
    Rebecca stepped up to meet the creature and shrieked in terror as the rest of the class burst into hysterical laughter. The boggart had turned into a mirror image of Rebecca wearing a long frilly dress, playing with her hair and putting on make-up.   
  
     "_R-r-r-riddikulus!_" She stammered and all of a sudden her hair turned into a fifties style beehive and her makeup took on a clown-like appearance. She began to laugh with the rest of the class and the boggart stepped back.   
  
     "Very good, Miss Longbottom. Miss Smith, then?"   
  
    Alice hesitantly took her friends place, her wand drawn and a look of determination on her face. A crocodile popped into place. A second later it began to tap dance and Alice smiled brightly as Tessa stepped forward. A large, black dog, foaming at the mouth appeared. Tessa actually jumped back a bit before managing to make it shrink into a Chihuahua. Lily walked up and there stood Dumbledore, expelling her from school.   
  
    The entire exercise had to be halted for a few moments while Alice and Rebecca chased after Lily when she bolted from the room in tears.   
  
     "Well what do you know, the Mudblood's too chicken to even handle a little boggart," Malfoy sneered.   
  
     "Shut it, Malfoy," Melissa snapped, whirling around to face him.   
  
     "Amazing to think though, isn't it? Everyone expects so much from perfect little Lily Evans, well I suspect with the coming time, if she's unable to handle something as _simple_ as a boggart… perhaps I needn't be worrying about Mudblood's lasting for long anyway." The superior expression on his smug face was just too much.   
  
    Before even realizing what he was doing, James Potter stalked right up to Lucius Malfoy and swung hard, his fist connecting firmly with Malfoy's jaw. James leaned down over the dazed boy, a fire shining in his eyes. "She's worth ten of you Malfoy, and don't you _ever_ forget it."   
  
     "Potter! Malfoy! Twenty points from _each_ of your Houses. Someone help Mr. Malfoy to the Hospital Wing," Emerson was now towering over the two boys.   
  
    Narcissa and Bellatrix Black rushed forward and helped Malfoy up, fawning dreadfully over him and aided in supporting his weight to the door.   
  
     "Detention tonight, Mr. Potter. We'll discuss the details after class. You are all to behave now, not another outburst like that from any of you or it'll be one hundred points from each person involved. I'll be back in a moment." The professor stalked out of the room.   
  
    Melissa looked over at James who was nursing his hand, shaking her head. "Oh here, you big baby." She crossed over to him and said a quick spell, causing the swelling in his knuckles to go down. "I thought you hated Lily?"   
  
     "I do. But no one calls any Gryffindor a… you know."   
  
     "A Mudblood."   
  
     "Mel!" Tessa gasped.   
  
     "Oh for Merlin's sake, Tessa. It's just a word. You shouldn't have done that James…" she paused. "But that was one hell of a punch."   
  
     "Mel!"   
  
     "Maybe we're done with boggarts for the day, then," Peter said, clearly not too keen on facing whatever his biggest fear was.   
  
     "Oi, scared Nackle will shoot out of that trunk trying to fail you?" Sirius joked.   
  
     "That's not my worst nightmare, that's a living reality," Peter conceded. "I'm not sure what it'll be."   
  
     "Me either," said Melissa.   
  
     "Then how come you don't look as scared as I feel?"   
  
    Melissa shrugged. "No point in worrying over something I can't even properly worry about yet. And Emerson may be nuts, but he's not going to let anything happen to any of us."   
  
    At that point, the aforementioned professor strode back into the classroom with Rebecca, Alice and Lily in tow. "Well, who was next?"   
  
     "I'll go," Frank Longbottom said, stepping forward. A giant eyeball slid out of the box. A second later it deflated and the first Slytherin stepped forward. Snape. The boggart came out of the box and became… Snape. Unlike with Rebecca, there were no changes at all. Snape was looking at an exact replica of himself. The entire class watched as the real Severus Snape's jaw dropped open and he looked over to the teacher.   
  
     "I… I don't know how to make this _funny_," he spit out the last word, staring back horrified at the boggart.   
  
    Professor Emerson stepped forward, "Very well, step back then Mr. Snape. Mr. Nott, if you would?"   
  
    Frederick Nott stepped forward and the boggart morphed from Snape into a werewolf. James saw Melissa and Remus exchange a strange look while Nott tried unsuccessfully to make the hair fall off the werewolf. After a few more unsuccessful tries, he stepped back and Crabbe stood before the boggart. It turned into a giant, man eating cupcake. The entire class exploded into laughter and the boggart became confused before Crabbe even had to do anything. Goyle stepped up and was met face to face with a very tall, very cute bunny, which, too much of the classes surprise, he made bounce like a ball and burst into laughter at.   
  
    There was a moment's hesitation before Peter walked up to the boggart and it turned into a full grown, vicious acromantula. Peter shrieked and jumped back before regaining himself. The acromantula's legs fell off and turned the color of a football with the black and white pattern. Several of the Muggle born students chuckled as Peter returned to his friends, a triumphant smile on his face.   
  
    Sirius stepped up to the box with a cocky grin on his face that vanished faster than you could say 'quidditch' when a large cow made its way out of the box. The Marauders and Lily were in hysterics laughing and the rest of the class just looked very confused, a few moments later though, Sirius had successfully managed to banish the boggart.   
  
    Striding over to the box as though he didn't have a care in the world, James Potter walked right up to the boggart and waited for it to change. When he did, his gasp was completely inaudible as the entire class was doing the same thing. At his feet lay a clearly dead Sirius Black. There were pools of blood around various appendages and his eyes were staring unseeingly into the ceiling.   
  
    James backed up. "No… n-n-no! _R-r-rid-dik-riddikulus_!" But his incantation was weak and instead, he boggart just changed from one horrifying sight to another. With a sharp crack, Sirius's corpse disappeared and was replaced by Remus's. There was no blood this time, but from the odd angle his neck was lying at… James backed father away from the boggart until be smacked into the classroom wall. "_R-r-riddikulus_!" He closed his eyes and heard another crack, but he knew he hadn't been successful and he was sure that someone else- _Peter? His mother? His father?_- would be lying on the ground. Sure enough, there lay Peter, his head completely severed from his body. James moaned and collapsed against the wall. He looked up and saw Professor Emerson walking towards him. _No. No! I can do this without his help! It's **just** a boggart. None of this is real. I don't need to make it funny, just say the bloody incantation and laugh, James. Do it this instant, you sodding git. You already look like an idiot._ He raised his wand and glared at Peter's corpse. "_**Riddikulus!**_" He bellowed at the top of his lungs and a second later the corpse was gone and in its place was the boggart getting ready to change back.   
  
    James barely noticed when Remus jumped in front of him and the boggart turned into a large, silver orb. A second later the orb appeared to have a large bite taken out of it and it was gone. Remus and James were both back with the other two Marauders and Melissa was standing in front of… Melissa.   
  
    The exact same thing that had happened to Severus Snape was now occurring to Melissa Denezyuk. She was staring wide eyed at herself shaking her head. Finally she narrowed her eyes and mumbled, "_Riddikulus_!" Her alter ego began to can-can and the ensuing laughter caused it to disappear.   
  
    A Slytherin whose name James couldn't quite recall stepped up and the boggart became a large, ugly toad. Then it was a vampire. And then a hag. And then they were done and dismissed.   
  
    The other three Marauder's gave James several very odd looks as he walked up to Emerson's desk to receive his detention.  
  
    Emerson looked him over and offered him a piece of chocolate. James chewed on the morsel as Emerson dished out his punishment.   
  
     "I'd like you to help Madame Pince shelve books for an hour after supper this evening."   
  
     "And then?"   
  
     "That's all Mr. Potter. You may go now. Just be warned, I won't be lenient next time."   
  
     "No sir, of course not."   
  
    James ran for the door, not entirely excited at facing the friends he'd just killed with his own mind, but that prospect was better than hanging around and receiving a far worse punishment.   


~~*~~

  
     "Well… ah," Sirius tried to break the uncomfortable silence that encased the four Marauders as they sat at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. "Oh, come on mates. So James worries about us? If you think about it, that's a rather nice gesture, isn't it then? Bloody hell, it's the Halloween feast. We've been like this all day, now it's time to knock off and go back to normal."   
  
     "Right," Remus muttered.   
  
     "Sure," Peter said quietly.   
  
     "Oh bloody hell, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to kill any of you lot!" James finally gasped exasperated.   
  
    Finally Peter looked up at him and looked him straight in the eye, "_Why_ are you scared we'll die?"   
  
    Remus and Sirius both turned to look at James who blushed bright red. "Dunno. Maybe… maybe this Voldemort business freaked me out more than I initially thought."   
  
    Remus sighed, "Well then. If it's about that… I'm sure we'll all be fine. There haven't been anymore deaths since last June and they're still not even sure that he kill them. The McGonagalls. Well, you know."   
  
    James just shrugged. "Can we just drop it? Look, I don't tend to spend my days worry about your demises, really. It just… must've been somewhere in the back of my head and that's what the boggart locked onto. I don't know. There were definitely weirder things, like Snape and Mel. What was that all about? Anyway… can we change the subject?"   
  
    The group sat and ate in silence for a bit until Peter looked up with a bit of a smile playing on his lips. "So, Sirius…" He paused until he had his attention. "Moooooo?"   
  
    Remus and James burst into laughter and a moment later Peter was picked a bunch of peas out of his hair while chuckling madly.   


~~*~~

  
     "Oi, are you two alright?" Peter yelled into the small bathroom from his bed. From what he could tell, it was still very early.   
  
     "Would you great prats shut up?" roared Remus.   
  
     "We're fine. Just fine," Sirius yelled back cheerily. "That's right, Jamesy boy, get it all up."   
  
     "Get it all up?" Frank Longbottom muttered from his bed. "Are you sick James? You want one of us to get Madame Pomfrey?"   
  
     "No," a hoarse reply that sounded vaguely like James came back. "No, I'm just-" A very loud, disgusting and unmistakable sound of vomit crashing into a toilet met the ears of the other three boys. "-peachy," he croaked.   
  
    Peter rolled out of bed and made his way to the bathroom. James was resting his head against a toilet and Sirius had plopped a sopping wet washcloth on James's neck. Peter picked it up to wring it out a bit and realize it was very hot. "It's supposed to be a damp,_ cold_ cloth, Seer."   
  
    Sirius's mouth made a small 'o' as Peter crossed over and ran the washcloth under cold water before replacing it on James's neck.   
  
     "Do you need Madame Pomfrey, James? One of us will go get her," Peter offered quietly and looked up to see Remus and Frank standing in the doorway.   
  
    James shook his head softly and looked embarrassed. He began to stand up and instead dove back towards the toilet, proceeding to finish emptying the contents of his stomach into the bowl. After wiping his mouth on the cloth, he stood up and grinned sheepishly at all the others. "Nerves. It's just nerves."   
  
    The other four all looked at him as though he was mad.   
  
     "First quidditch game this morning. Actually, I'd better get down to the Great Hall. Uh, thanks guys." His face was flushed as he crossed back into the bedchamber and pulled out his quidditch robes. Remus, Frank and Sirius quickly collapsed back into bed, but Peter decided to accompany James down to the Great Hall.   
  
     "You know you'll do fine, James. You're a great Chaser," Peter said.   
  
     "Yea, I know… don't tell about this morning, would you? Stupid, I know," James muttered.   
  
     "Like Hogwarts would believe me if I told anyone that the great James Potter actually gets nervous sometimes? Likely, I'm sure," Peter scoffed.   
  
    James grinned at him.   
  
     "Remus is getting sicker again, did you notice? He really never is entirely healthy, I don't think," Peter commented trying to distract James.  
  
     "I thought we've been over that if he isn't, then it's his business."   
  
     "You know, for someone who worries so much about his friends, you don't seem to be overly concerned when one is actually ill."   
  
     "I am. I'm just I'm pretty sure there's nothing any of us can do about it."   
  
     "Well, how do we know unless he won't tell us?"   
  
     "Sometimes you just don't want to tell people things. Like spending an hour tossing up everything you've ever eaten, that would suck if that became common knowledge, as far as I'm concerned."   
  
     "Yes, but all the Marauders and Frank know that that's how you spent your morning and we don't really care. We were only worried about you and then we tried to help you, why wouldn't Remus want us to help him?"   
  
     "Probably because we can't."   
  
     "You know what's wrong with him, don't you?"   
  
     "What?"   
  
     "You're not worried because you know what's wrong with him."   
  
     "I don't know, I've just got ideas…"   
  
     "Such as."   
  
     "I'd rather not."   
  
     "Git."   
  
     "Prat."   
  
    The boys grinned at one another.   
  
     "Fine then. So what was up with his boggart? Who's scared of the _moon_? Really now."   
  
    James blanched. He really hadn't expected anyone to pick up on what the silvery orb had been. That class, while absolutely horrifying, had been quite informative. Seeing Remus's deepest fear only verified what James had already been pretty certain of, but the glance between Remus and Melissa when Nott had picked a werewolf… he wouldn't tell her and not them, would he?   
  
     "I mean… the only thing I could think of that would be scared of the moon would be a werewolf, and it's not as though Remus is one of _them_," Peter continued.   
  
    James gasped. "What did you say?"   
  
     "I said, it's not as-" Peter stopped short. "Surely you don't think Remus is a-"  
  
    He was stopped short when James clamped a hand over his mouth. "Listen, what I think or don't think, doesn't matter and _just suppose_ he were, I'm absolutely certain he wouldn't want it broadcasted around the school." James let go of Peter.   
  
    Gaping at his friend, Peter stuttered out, "That- that is what you think, isn't it?"   
  
    James closed his eyes for a second. He'd wanted more proof before he brought up his idea to the others, but it seemed like he wasn't going to get that option. He nodded and heard Peter gasp.   
  
     "But werewolves are dangerous! Remus isn't dangerous! He… he can't be a-," Peter paused and lowered his voice even more, "-a dark creature."   
  
     "Listen," James whirled and looked him right in the face. "_Don't_ tell Sirius yet. Or Remus, I think he'd just get mad. We need… Sirius you know, he overreacts, we need some sort of… plan. I'll come up with it, just _don't tell anyone_, Pete. Understand? Absolutely no one."   
  
    Peter looked up at his taller friend, "I promise. I'll keep your secret."   
  
     "Good," James looked relieved and the two walked the rest of the way to the Great Hall in a companionable silence.   


~~*~~

  
     "… Bagman, Whimple and Alderton!"   
  
    The voice of the Hufflepuff burst across the stadiums. It was a well known fact that Agatha Chubb was one of the quietest, hard workers at Hogwarts, but put her near a Quidditch pitch and you'll get a thoroughly interesting and descriptive announcer.   
  
     "And now this year's Gryffindor line up! Beamish, Vance, McKinnon, Bell, Longbottom, Potter and Bell! This year's team hosts the largest amount of new players of all four Houses. Let's hope Bell, Bell and Beamish managed to fill those four spots well!"   
  
    Peter, Remus and Sirius were crowded in the stands with the rest of the Gryffindors for the first match of the Quidditch season. Sirius and Peter were pressed up in front of the crowd, already hollering for James. Meanwhile, Remus had already pulled out a book and was settling in for what could be a long, dull afternoon.   
  
     "And Hufflepuff is in possession. Oi, watch it there Whimple! Nearly took off McKinnons head and might I add, what a lovely head it is!"   
  
     "Chubb!"   
  
     "Sorry Professor Sprout, I only call them as I see them. Back to the game, Merlin! The Hufflepuff Chaser takes a bludger to the head and… and Potter's got the quaffle! He's heading for Alderton and, would you look at that! He clear rolled his broom midair to avoid that bludger. Nice save. He's closing in."   
  
    Remus took his head out of his book and began to peer out at the pitch. He could see a single red figure sailing towards one of the goal posts. A moment later the crowd erupted as-   
  
     "And Potter scores the first goal of the game! Nice find, Bell!"   
  
    The game was fast and furious. In ten minutes Gryffindor was up by two hundred points. Between James, Rebecca and Margaret, the Hufflepuff's didn't stand a chance. Just when the Gryffindor's thought the game couldn't get any better, Peter Bell went into a steep dive and snatched the snitch right out from in front of the Hufflepuff Seeker's eyes.   
  
    The stands went wild.   
  
    Sirius nearly leapt out of the stands and clear onto the pitch in his excitement, but Peter and Remus managed to guide him down the steps and over towards James, who was standing with the rest of the team, a dopey grin of sheer happiness plastered across his face.   
  
     "We won," James said as he walked over to the Marauders.   
  
     "Well duh," Peter said.   
  
     "No, you don't seem to understand… we won," James said again, very calmly.   
  
     "Right, James," Remus said as they joined the throng heading for the castle.   
  
     "No, no, no," the messy haired boy repeated once more, decided louder. "We won!"   
  
    Sirius, who had been doing an insane little jig, stopped and looked up at his friend, replying with a very solemn, "Why yes, we did win."   
  
    James nodded at him and the two boys began to do the strange little jig.   
  
     "Sweet Merlin, are they going to do that all night?" Remus asked Peter.   
  
     "We'll have to keep them away from the sugar," Peter replied as they entered the castle.   
  
     "Definitely."   


~~*~~

  
    Sirius paused, his arm raised in midair holding an apple, to snort. "Well that must've been an odd shock."   
  
     "Interesting letter, Seer?" James inquired peering over his friend's shoulder.   
  
     "From Andie," Sirius replied, his eyes never leaving the letter.   
  
     "Andromeda?"   
  
    He nodded and put the letter down next to his lunch.   
  
     "How is she?" Remus inquired.   
  
     "Pregnant."   
  
     "Good for her," Peter cheered, looking up from the parchment he was rushing to finish for Charms.   
  
     "But how is that an _odd_ shock, wouldn't you expect that if you're married?" James looked at his best friend with a rather amused expression on his countenance.   
  
     "Ah, no, that's not it," Sirius said as he took another bite of his apple. "She's been living as a Muggle, this Ted bloke never knew she was a witch. Thought she just went to some boarding school and I don't think he ever met anyone in our family. But when she got pregnant, she thought she should tell him. You know, since the baby could be magical, too."   
  
     "He didn't take it well?" James said, the amused look dropping from his face. All witches and wizards were warned from an early age that Muggles weren't usually very receptive to magic.   
  
    Sirius snorted again, "The opposite actually. From what her letter says, that kid has got a great chance at being a witch or a wizard. Ted graduated from the Salem Institute of Magic three years ago."   
  
    James jaw dropped, "So he was pretending to be a Muggle, too?" He burst into laughter, "Well what are the odds of that?!?"   
  
    Sirius shrugged and grinned. "Well, at any rate, they're both pretty happy and Andie sounds excited that she's going to be a mom. And that she can stop doing dishes the Muggle way."   
  
     "I can understand _that_," Peter agreed.   
  
     "Oh bother," Remus said, glancing over to the entrance to the Great Hall. Standing in the doorway, levitating a large trunk, was Rebecca Longbottom with a rather annoyed expression on her face. She scanned the Hall furiously and her eyes stopped on the Marauders. "What did you do to her?"   
  
     "Ah, er… nothing," James said as he slid under the table and began crawling towards the exit. "But if you could distract her for us, we'd appreciate the head start," he muttered from under the table.   
  
     "Us! Us?" Remus mumbled and then noticed that the spot Sirius had been occupying a moment ago was now vacant. He turned to Peter, "Any idea what she's about to go off about?"   
  
    Peter shook his head.   
  
     "Then any idea why she's got a bloody trunk with her?"   
  
    Peter shook his head again.   
  
     "Right then." Remus grinned cheerily and looked up at the angry female now stationed with her hands on her hips right in front of him.   
  
     "Fix this," she said, gesturing to the trunk.   
  
     "Excuse me?" Peter asked with an innocent look on his face, perhaps too innocent.   
  
    At that moment, something inside the trunk gave a mighty thump. Rebecca narrowed her glare even more.   
  
     "Would one of your bloody gits be kind enough to let my brother out of his trunk?"   
  
    Remus and Peter's eyes shot open in shock, which, even in her angered state, Rebecca noticed. "Ah, I see. So _you two_ aren't the bloody gits. It's the other two. Still… can you undo their handiwork?"   
  
    Remus slid under the table and pulled himself back up on the other side. He pulled out his wand and began to work on the trunk. When a simple unlocking charm didn't work, he began to examine the box.   
  
     "What did Frank do to get him shoved in his trunk?" Peter asked Rebecca.   
  
     "You're implying I can hear him through it. All I can understand are muffled shouts and the thuds." Her hands were still on her hips.   
  
     "Ah, oh alright then," Remus said more to himself than the others. "_Waddiwasi_." A small piece of clay shot out of the lock and onto the table. "_Alohomora_." The top popped open and Frank Longbottom, with his skin such a bright shade of pink it was nearly glowing, shot out of the trunk.   
  
     "Potter! Black!" he roared and then looked around. He paused for a second and blinked, rather confused. "This isn't the dormitory."   
  
     "You're right about that Frank," Peter commented, earning him a glare that was identical to Rebecca's.   
  
     "Why were you in that trunk?" Remus and Rebecca asked at the same time.   
  
     "I hid their texts for classes this afternoon. A bit of revenge for when they turned Arthur into a tree stump last week," Frank replied quietly. Then he held up his hands to Remus and Peter, "I admit defeat. The Marauder's win. Just leave my toad alone in the future, deal?"   
  
    Remus, biting back his laughter as he recalled the strange accident that ended with a very green tree stump growing roots into their dormitory floor, readily agreed. 


	7. The Silver Pen

  


**The Silver Pen**

  
Meanwhile, in an empty hallway near the Charms classroom…   
  
    "So, James," Sirius began in a somewhat uncertain tone. The tone of his voice alone put James on edge a bit, Sirius was _never_ uncertain, completely and totally wrong, definitely, but he was never uncertain. "I was talking a bit with Pete and, well… he seems to be under the deranged idea that Remus is a werewolf. Mad, huh?"   
  
     "That son of a sea dragon," James swore. "A fat dragon, at that. With scale rot."   
  
    Sirius chuckled uneasily.   
  
    James sighed and his shoulders drooped a bit, "Well, he kept that secret for nearly forty eight hours, maybe he'll be able to keep the next big one for a whopping week."   
  
     "Why didn't you tell _me_?" Sirius asked.   
  
     "Because I wasn't sure. I mean, I'm still not completely sure, it's a big accusation to make. What am I supposed to do? Hello Remmy, you don't by any chance turn into something mad and hairy once a month, eh?"   
  
    Sirius bit back his laughter. "So what makes you think this then? I don't really assume Peter came up with this himself."   
  
     "Ah, well, no. Although he did guess it too when I pointed a few things out."   
  
     "Such as?"   
  
     "Such as, he's _always_ sick. I mean, this would solve that bloody mystery of yours and get you off his case once and for all. I'm pretty sure that he doesn't handle silver well, remember Peter's medallion, Saint Something or Other? He dropped it like it was on fire and yelled. He yelled on the Hogwarts Express too, and I haven't seen Mel wear that ring she was wearing since. I think, that well… maybe she knows, for whatever reason. She's pretty smart, maybe she figured it out too… And, well, since Peter and I talked, I checked the lunar charts in the library, for the past two years, every time he spent the night in the Hospital Wing, well except for that night we gave him bunny ears and Madame Pomfrey had to remove them, has been a full moon. And he's always sicker then, too." James searched Sirius's face for some sign that he didn't think he was nutters.   
  
    Sirius appeared to be thinking all this over. "Have you snuck down to the kitchens recently?"   
  
     "Er… no." James gave his friend an odd look.   
  
     "I think the elves have let you into the liquor." Sirius laughed at his friend.   
  
    James shook his head violently. "No, no they haven't you git. This is why I didn't want to tell you." He began to stalk off towards their next class, but Sirius quickly caught up and grabbed his arm.   
  
     "Wait, James," Sirius began. "I know Dumbledore takes eccentric to an art form, but do you really think he'd let something… how'd you put it "mad and hairy once a month" into the castle? Werewolves are seriously dangerous! Don't you understand that? Have you _met_ Remus? He couldn't hurt a dead fly."   
  
     "I'm not kidding," the other boy replied simply with a slight shrug.   
  
     "I'm serious," Sirius replied earnestly.   
  
     "Well… duh." The bespectacled boy grinned at his friend, attempting to lighten the mood.   
  
    Sirius rolled his eyes. "Do you understand the implications if he is one? He could _kill_ us… and I'm sure that's only _one_ of the _many_ problems that would occur."   
  
     "Would?" James said angrily. "Are, you prat. They _are_ occurring. Because whether you want to believe it or not, I'm convinced he is one and the three of us might be able to run away from these problems, but he never can."   
  
    Sirius gazed out the window near where they were stopped. He sighed.   
  
     "_You_ may be set against getting involved in all these problems and if you're going to start seeing Remus as a problem then… maybe this is it," James sighed.   
  
     "With our friendship with Remus?" Sirius said quietly, not looking at his friend.   
  
     "No… with _our_ friendship. I'm not going to freeze Remus out for something he can't help. Somehow I doubt he went wandering into the woods going 'here wolfie, wolfie, come bite me' if you catch my drift. He can't help it. I'm sure Dumbledore has some way of keeping us all safe, I mean, did you hear of a werewolf attack outbreak after last September? All I can recall reading about was the fact that the Middlebury Manor is the most severely haunted place in all of Britain and the shopkeepers down in Hogsmeade have taken to calling it the Shrieking Shack since it makes so much noise. But that's ghosts and not werewolves, now isn't it?"   
  
    James stopped talking and gave Sirius a chilling look.   
  
     "If you come to your senses, you know where to find us."   
  
    With that, James Potter stalked off down the hallway to Charms as Sirius Black stared vacantly off towards the Quidditch pitch with a broken look on his face.   


~~*~~

  
    When James reached the Charms classroom the first thing he noticed were Peter and Remus bent with their heads together over one of their desks.   
  
    _Well clearly Pete doesn't care if Remus is a werewolf,_ James though, still exceedingly annoyed at Sirius._ That stupid judgmental git. He has the nerve to worry about our safety. For Merlin's sake, we'd be dead two hundred times over if Remus didn't know all the counter curses and medical spells that he does. And if he wasn't the voice of reason with some of our dumber ideas. Really now, does he really think-_ James reverie was caught short as he saw Remus and Peter both jump back from the desk.   
  
     "_Why_ is it doing that, Pete?" Remus asked, picking up the wand carefully.   
  
     "I don't know," Peter whined, he looked over to James. "My wand is shooting sparks."   
  
     "Huh?" James crossed over to where the other two were sitting.   
  
     "It just randomly starts shooting colorful sparks… it'd almost be pretty. That is, if I didn't keep catching fire on them," he said ruefully as he used that same wand to shoot out a jet of water to put out the small parchment fire on his desk.   
  
    James took the wand and began turning it over, looking at it. Just as he was looking at the bottom, sparks, a lovely shade of purple, shot out of the tip and set the hem of his robe on fire.   
  
     "_Aquato_." James whirled around when he heard Sirius's voice. A moment later, the bottom of his robe was drenched and Sirius was already settled into the desk next to Peter, having not said another word to James.   
  
    James handed Peter his wand and sat down next to Remus.   
  
    Throughout most of the class, both Peter and Remus noticed that James and Sirius were avoiding each other. While Remus seemed ignorant as to why the rift had occurred, Peter was worried that he just might have a clue. Although why _they'd_ fight over that, he had no idea. It was his fault he'd told. All the while, his wand sporadically emitted sparks as Professor Flitwick droned on about Lengthening and Shortening Spells.   
  
    With about five minutes of class left, James and Peter both looked over to Remus's desk, where a loud thump had occurred moments before. Sitting in front of Remus was a silver Muggle ball point pen that had 'accidentally' been tossed there.   
  
     "Sorry bout that, Remmy," Sirius said nonchalantly. "Hand me my pen, would you?"   
  
     "Where's your _quill_, Sirius?" Remus asked him calmly, looking at the gleaming object on his desk, but making no move to touch it.   
  
     "Lost it the other day, nicked this from Pete's desk the other day to finish up my homework, don't mind, do you Pete?" Sirius leaned in across Peter towards Remus.   
  
    Peter's face contorted into a grimace. "Don't be a git, Sirius," he hissed as he grabbed the pen, placing it in Sirius's hand. "You'll hurt him, you prat."   
  
    All three boys heard the sharp intake of breath from Remus and looked at him with startled expressions clear on all their faces when he interrupted Professor Flitwick claiming he needed to go to the Hospital Wing._ Now_.   
  
     "Alright then, Mr. Lupin. Get a copy of the homework from one of your classmates later," the professor replied, quickly returning to his lecture. Before the other three Marauders could blink, the fourth was gone.   
  
    Sirius jumped a bit as Peter kicked him hard on the shin. As the bell rang, denoting the end of class, Peter and James raced for the door, but Sirius caught them quickly.   
  
     "We need to talk. Now."   


~~*~~

  
     "_Dissendium_," Sirius muttered, tapping the familiar hump on the statue in the third floor corridor, the other two boys following a few steps behind him. He climbed through, slid down and waited.   
  
    A scuffling noise alerted him that the other two boys were there. None made a move to light their wands.   
  
     "So… er… this werewolf theory," he began uncomfortably. "You may have something there."   
  
     "Really? You think?" James retorted dryly. "You're wasting my time, Black. I've got better things to be doing right now. Like trying to find my severely alienated best friend. Coming, Pete?"   
  
    There was a moment of silence. "You know James, werewolves _are_ dangerous."   
  
    James let out a howl of frustration. "How is he possibly more dangerous today than he was last week when we _didn't_ know? Huh?"   
  
     "Well, it's just," Peter trailed off.   
  
     "We've got things we need to consider, you understand," Sirius interjected.   
  
     "No, I don't understand. What I do understand though, is that you're being a git and because of it you're making me pick between my best friends. I don't appreciate it."   
  
     "I just don't think it's safe," Sirius said quietly.   
  
     "Since when do you give a damn about safe, Sirius Black?"   
  
     "I just can't imagine Remus as a blood thirsty monster," Peter said quietly.   
  
     "Because he's _not_! He's just Remus most of the time, so who cares about that one night? We'll just split up on those nights, he goes his way, we go ours and then we meet up in the end, like we've been doing for the past year and a half."   
  
    This time Sirius let out a growl of annoyance. "You make it sound so easy."   
  
     "That's because it is, you bloody prat."   
  
    Sirius heard Peter let out a small sigh. "Alright, I'm with you James."   
  
     "Well, it's good to see one of you have come to your senses."   
  
     "You know, Seer," Peter said quietly. "He wouldn't have hesitated for half a second if it had been you rather than me in Care of Magical Creatures… not a second."   
  
    Both boys knew immediately what Peter was referring to and Sirius let out a similar sigh.   
  
     "I know." He repeated it again, more to himself. "I know."   
  
     "Then we _never_ speak of this, you understand?" James said into the darkness.   
  
     "We can't just avoid the subject… I mean… I tossed a pen at him, for Merlin's sake," Sirius muttered.   
  
     "Which was bloody brilliant you astounding moron, but that wasn't what I was referring to. We have to go talk about that… I mean this. This whole doubt thing… the way the two of you reacted. From here on out, it's nothing but support from all three of us."   
  
     "Oh good," Peter sighed in relief.   
  
     "Yea… thanks, mate," Sirius said, beginning to climb up out of the passageway.   
  
     "Prat."   
  
     "Git."   
  
     "Oh shut up, you two. Let's go find him."   


~~*~~

  
    Two hours later Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black and James Potter trudged towards Gryffindor Tower, having finally given up their search for Remus Lupin.   
  
     "Dinglebat," Peter said to the Fat Lady.   
  
    Sirius climbed through first and James and Peter smacked right into him. He raised his arm and the other two followed it to where it pointed. An armchair had been pulled over into the corner and Remus's knapsack was clearly lying next to it. The three boys approached tentatively and stood quietly, seemingly undetected, behind the chair until Sirius broke the silence.   
  
     "Er… did I ever tell you the one about the wolf that fell into the washer machine? He became a wash and werewolf."   
  
    Peter and James both groaned. Remus didn't reply at all .   
  
     "Alright, alright. Not that good. How about… why do werewolves do so well in school?"   
  
     "Shut up," a hoarse voice croaked from the chair.   
  
    Sirius snapped his jaw shut.   
  
    The three boys stood uncomfortably behind the chair, Peter shifting his weight from foot to foot, James repeatedly running his hand through his hair and Sirius nervously tapping his fingers along the top of the armchair.   
  
     "Just go away," Remus said quietly. "Leave me alone."   
  
     "Uh, no… we tried that for nearly two hours already," Peter said softly. "Not on purpose, mind you, but you did get two hours to yourself."   
  
     "And we all know that when you're angry or upset you go off and brood. That can't be healthy, especially not over this," James added.   
  
    The group settled into silence as several older Gryffindors walked by.   
  
     "This isn't the place to talk about it," Remus replied a moment later.   
  
     "Well, where do you want to go?" Peter asked.   
  
     "Anywhere that you lot aren't, but I can't imagine you'll let me do that, now will you?" Remus stood up and walked quickly towards the boys dormitory.   


~~*~~

  
    A minute later Remus was perched on his bed facing the other three as they sat down on Peter's. _It's already started_, he thought bitterly. _The three of them against me. I** knew** this was too good to last._ He let out a deep sigh.   
  
     "Well?"   
  
    The three boys looked at one another and then Sirius blurted out. "You're a werewolf."   
  
    Remus smiled darkly. "I'm well aware of that." He gave them a look as though to say 'go on'.   
  
     "Well…" James began. "What can we do?"   
  
     "You mean besides go off on your own and leave the dangerous menace to society to himself? Got me, nothing I can think of."   
  
    The three boys all gave Remus a weird look. _What are they at? Just get it over with. Nice being friends with you Remus, we'll see you at graduation. Try not to eat us in our sleep? Oh, nevermind that. It was bad enough with Melissa. Peter's physically incapable of keeping a secret, the entire school will know by tomorrow. I'll be expelled by the weekend. Bloody brilliant. And Dumbledore will think I told them, which I was told specifically** not** to do._ "Well? What are you staring at?" he snapped crossly.   
  
     "That wasn't what we meant," Peter squeaked.   
  
     "Er… I mean, _is_ there anything we can do?" Sirius asked.   
  
     "What are you playing at?"   
  
     "What we were trying to say," James interjected, "was is there anything we can do to help you?"   
  
    _Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse_. "What am I now? Your new pet project? A sympathy case? I don't think so, no thanks. See you," Remus stood to leave.   
  
     "No, you great, sodding, self-pitying git, you're our mate," Sirius barked. Remus stopped in his tracks. "And we wanted to know if there was _anything_ that we could do to help. No sympathy, no pet projects, not even any mysteries, we were just trying to be mates."   
  
     "You can't do anything," Remus said in a small, defeated voice, his back still to the group. "This is just the way it is."   
  
     "Well, then that's the way it is and we've discussed it and now you can stop giving us your lame excuses as to why you're missing classes and sick all the time," James said, slowly beginning to grin a bit.   
  
     "I knew no one could have that many allergies and survive," Peter mused.   
  
    Remus slowly began to turn toward them. "How can it not bother you that I'm… you know."   
  
     "Because we've known you for this long already and you've never attacked any of us… well, not in your wolf form anyway," James said. "It's only one night out of the month, the rest of the time, you're just plain Remus."   
  
     "How'd it happen?" Sirius cautiously asked.   
  
     "Er… I was playing in the woods near my home one evening… I was really young and well… I'm what happens to the rare freaks that actually live through a werewolf attack. You can see why death is preferred."   
  
     "No, I can't," Sirius said nearly inaudibly. "If you'd died, we'd never have met."   
  
    The boys stood studying one another for a moment. _They can't… they just can't accept it like that… I'm a monster! A Dark Creature! How can they not care?_ Remus felt his eyes brim up with tears. "I, ah… left my book bag in the Common Room. I'll be right back."   
  
    He quickly shot out of the room and heard James say "no, let him go" to whoever had tried to follow. As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he was completely oblivious to his surroundings and tripped right over Melissa.   
  
     "Oh Merlin, sorry Mel," Remus muttered.   
  
     "'S ok, Remus. I'll live," she grinned. Her face darkened as her eyebrows knitted together in concern. She'd noticed how his eyes were shining. "Are _you_ ok?"   
  
     "I… uh. Mel? Did you tell them?"   
  
     "Tell who what?"   
  
    _She's got to be kidding me, how can that not be the first thing on her mind every time she looks at me? Werewolf. Monster_. "Peter and James and Sirius… that I'm, well, that I'm a werewolf," he said very quietly.   
  
     "Never. You asked me not to, and I said I wouldn't. I'm not a liar, Remus Lupin." She had crossed her arms across her chest as she spoke.   
  
     "Ah, no, you aren't. Sorry, Mel. Thank you." He leaned over and picked up his book bag.   
  
     "They know?" she asked softly, placing a hand gently on his arm, causing a jolt to shoot up it. _I think I just got a crash course on what Muggle electricity feels like. _  
  
     "Er… um… I mean, yes. Yea, they figured it out," he stuttered.   
  
     "I'm pretty sure that they don't care any more than I do, Remus." She gave his arm one last pat and removed it. "I've got to go. Detention with Filch, jolly good fun and all that."   
  
    Remus laughed at the sarcasm laced in her words. "Have fun, Mel."   
  
     "Always," she replied cheekily heading for the portrait hole. "Lily, we have to be in Filch's office in five minutes," he heard her call over her shoulder to the red head surrounded by books in a corner. A moment later, both were gone.   
  
    Remus turned around and went back upstairs. He stood outside the door for a second before entering.   
  
     "But they are planning something, I'm sure of it. You can't trust girls," Peter's voice drifted.   
  
     "Yeah, right. What would make you think that?" Sirius's voice, fully of doubt, came next.   
  
     "I overheard them when I was walking around the other day," came Peter's reply, followed, in a horrible Russian accent. "I am sly like fox." Remus snorted.   
  
     "Sly like chipmunk, is more like it," James retorted and Remus actually laughed out loud. "That's our Pete, super spy extraordinaire. So then, what are they planning?"   
  
     "Dunno, but it's something."   
  
    Remus entered the room. "Have you lot noticed that Melissa's been sneaking large quantities of honey out of the Great Hall recently, think it's related?"   
  
    The four Marauders, all piled on Peter's bed, spent the rest of the evening trying to figure exactly what the Gryffindor Five were up to this week. 


	8. Advanced Transfiguration Processes

  
  
  


** Advanced Transfiguration Processes**

  
  
  
    "Fancy running into you here, Melissa, Tessa," James Potter said to the two girls as their paths crossed in the hallway.   
  
     "James," Tessa acknowledge with a curt nod of her head.   
  
     "Sirius," Melissa following in suit.   
  
    Sirius glances at the two girls, both holding large jars of honey and then down to his own hands, carrying a big bowl of oatmeal, as was James. "Er… no questions?"   
  
     "Perfect," Tessa agreed happily. "See you lot in Potions." The girls headed off towards the Common Room and James and Sirius continued on their course to the library.   
  
     "You brought me breakfast?" a happily startled Peter exclaimed.   
  
     "Not quite, sorry Pete. Did you find anything?" James said as he slid in next to his friend and pulled several balloons out of his satchel.   
  
    Peter sighed, "Nothing of use. I was ever so excited to learn that teenage werewolves have the highest suicide rate in existence. More than eighty five percent never make it to twenty."   
  
     "Bloody hell," Sirius breathed.   
  
     "You can say that again. Was Remus still asleep when you went down to breakfast, Sirius?"   
  
    Sirius reached for a balloon and stretched the opening wide, "Yeah, we'll find something soon though. There must be _something_ we can do. We've been looking for nearly a month." He smiled widely as James began to pour the oatmeal into the balloon. When they finished he tied the top and squeezed it a bit for good measure. "Mushy," he nodded in approval.   
  
    Peter looked to his friends and then down to the balloons. "Do I even want to know?"   
  
     "You will Peter. Is that all you found?" James paused mid-pour to poke at a rather large lump.   
  
     "Of real use? No. I mean, I learned a lot about werewolves. You were right James, as long as we all just keep our heads and use a bit of precaution, we'll be fine, but that was all. Lots of descriptions of them, but no ways to help them…"   
  
    Peter went back to the book in front of him and the other two boys worked on their current balloon project. Fifteen minutes later, Peter put the book back down.   
  
     "Alright, I give. _What_ are you doing?"   
  
    James glanced down at his watch and gasped. He carefully began piling the oatmeal filled balloons into his satchel. "We're going to miss our chance, Seer. Come on." He stood up and then gestured to Peter to follow them.   
  
    The three boys walked briskly until they reached a small balcony on the second floor that opened out into the Entrance Hall. This particular balcony was situated right above the stairs that marked the descent into the dungeons. James took out the oatmeal balloons and divided them among the three boys. "I think you know what lot we're aiming for."   
  
    The Marauder's leaned over the ledge and watched as the students began trickling out of the Great Hall and throughout the castle. The bell to signal the start of classes was due to ring in about ten minutes.   
  
     "Ah, ha. Target spied, mates. The greasy haired git is over there and that Umbridge hag is following with two of her lot nearby him. Balloons at the ready, men," Sirius cackled maniacally and leaned over a bit farther.   
  
     "Now," he hissed dropping two balloons at once, both hitting their target square on top of the head.   
  
    A startled surprise came from below as a very angry Second Year Slytherin looked up at them, porridge dripping off his hooked nose. Nearby, Umbridge, Port and Bellatrix Black burst into laughter. They were quickly silenced as James, Peter and Sirius proceeded to bombard them and Snape with the remaining balloons.   
  
     "Filch," Peter gasped.   
  
     "Time to go," Sirius said, grabbing Peter and pulling him towards the prearranged escape route. A moment later, the three found themselves crammed in what appeared to be a very small room.   
  
     "Where are we?" Peter asked as he gasped for breath.   
  
     "Pull on the rope, we need to move fast," James said, guiding Peter's hand to a rope running through the middle of the room. "It's a small elevator type of thing. We're going to lower ourselves into the dungeons. This lets out into a passageway that'll put us at the other side of the Potions classroom. We'll get off free and clear, but we have to move fast."   
  
    Working together, the boys quickly managed to lower themselves down. Upon entering the narrow passageway, they broke into a run and came out behind a portrait of Salazar Slytherin and Helga Hufflepuff picking flowers (Helga was having a grand time, but Salazar looked rather annoyed to be spending an eternity engaged in such a stupid activity).   
  
    They quickly made their way to the classroom, which was already half full of students and sat in their seats. By the time Remus entered the classroom, the three were laughing hysterically as they listened to Frank and Rebecca tell the class why Snape, Umbridge, Port and Black were going to be late.   


~~*~~

  
     "I hate group projects," Peter grumbled as he bustled into the Second Year boys dormitory and flopped on his bed.   
  
     "It could be worse."   
  
     "Easy for you to say, Seer. You're partnering with James! I have Lily. Lily! She's going to kill me when she realized how slow I am."   
  
     "You're not slow, just special…" Remus said, grinning wickedly. He held out a large wooden spoon full of a bubbling potion from the cauldron sitting in the middle of the floor. "Taste this and tell us if you go blind."   
  
    Sirius, nearly bouncing on the floor with energy, looked up at Peter, as though he honestly expected him to walk over and taste the potion.   
  
     "Argh," Peter groaned and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.   
  
     "Guess he's not up to it today. Well, bottoms up then, mate?" Peter heard Sirius's chipper voice float out of the room.   
  
     "Bottoms up… you know though, if this works, I'm not sure if that makes it a real success… it better wear off eventually."   
  
    Peter relaxed a bit and chuckled, _I'd better go check on them in a bit and make sure they're alright. Lunatics, both of them._   
  
    Down in the Common Room, most of the Gryffindors were studying like mad, trying to finish up all their work in time for the Christmas holiday coming up.   
  
     "I'm molting, I'm molting!"   
  
    Peter looked over to the sound of the voice and recognized Alice, asleep with her head in a book, talking to herself. She had a look of absolute terror on her face as Rebecca nudged her, trying to wake her up.   
  
    Alice shot upright and shook herself a bit, examining her arms. "A canary. Becca, I just had a dream that Lily turned me into a canary for saying maybe we should take a study break to go eat breakfast." Her voice was slightly hysterical.   
  
     "Go to bed, Alice. I'll keep her out of the dorm for a few hours," Becca said, yawning herself. "I think she's still torturing Peter in the library right now."   
  
    Peter snorted, thinking of what perfect wording that was for the last three hours he'd spent with Lily Evans. "No, she's done with me for the evening. Blew up three library books at one point because she was so frustrated at me. Madame Pince tossed us both out… if you're planning an escape, I'd go now."   
  
    His eyes widened as he watched Alice bolt up the steps to her dormitory, in two years, he'd never seen her move that fast. A moment later, he heard the portrait hole squeak open and saw the unmistakable whoosh of red hair belonging to the tyrant known as Lily. "Later, Becca."   
  
    With one final glance and feeble wave, he saw Becca slide noticeably down in her chair and try to hide behind her book. Peter set himself down in an armchair and was surprised when, a moment later, Tessa and Melissa slid into the two seats across from him.   
  
     "Hide us and we'll owe you _anything_, Peter," Tessa muttered quietly.   
  
     "Anything," Melissa reiterated, a look of pure fear on her face.   
  
     "Forget Voldemort, that man is _nothing_ compared to Lily Evans," Tessa concluded and both girls shivered at the thought of Lilt around test time.   
  
    Peter chuckled quietly. "You can stay here, but if you attract her to this corner, I'm making a run for it. None of you are her Defense Against the Dark Arts project partner."   
  
     "Oi, Frank told me he saw the two of you getting kicked out of the library!" Tessa said, leaning forward. "What did you do?"   
  
     "Me? I don't think so. _She_ blew up two books. Bloody loony she is." He shook his head as he recalled the deranged look on her face when he made the mistake of saying there were two Unforgivables, forgetting one for a moment.   
  
     "Oof! Gerroff me," Peter exclaimed, pushing what felt like a large sack of potatoes off of his lap.   
  
     "Sorry, mate. Didn't see you there. Oh Merlin, am I hyped up on sugar right now," James gave Peter a crazed grin.   
  
     "Why are you clutching a teddy bear, James?" Cortessa asked, a look of amusement playing on her fair features.   
  
     "No, no. We don't want to know. A Marauder on a sugar high? Lily is safer. Come on, Tessa." Melissa stood up and started off slowly towards Lily with Tessa trailing after her.   
  
     "She does make a fair point, James," Peter said. "Why are you holding a teddy bear?"   
  
     "I have plans for this baby," James grinned and cackled. "Where are the others?"   
  
     "Going blind up in the dormitory."   
  
     "Of course. Let's go help."   


~~*~~

  
     "Remus," Peter leaned forward as he hissed at his unconscious friend. "Remus."   
  
    It was a typically dull day in History of Magic. The class was finish up the last test of the term and snow was falling lightly outside the window. The full moon had been two nights ago and Remus still hadn't fully recovered, which Peter realized when he saw his friend slowly slump over his test paper. "Reeeeeeemus."   
  
    Peter picked up his wand and prodded Remus hard in the ribs. Remus snorted, his shoulder shook and then he settled back down. Peter let out an exasperated sigh and glanced up to make sure Professor Binns hadn't noticed anything. Then Peter realized who he was worried about noticing and had to bite back a chuckle. Peter went to give Remus another prod in the back when, at the same time, his wand opted to emit the blasted sparks that he hadn't yet managed to entirely curtail.   
  
    _Well that's certainly going to wake him up!_  
  
     "Remus," he yelled loudly, interrupting the whole class. "You're on fire!"  
  
    A disheveled and confused Remus Lupin leapt to his feet as he heard four different classmates yell out '_Aquato_' at the same time, completely drenching him from head to toe as they put out the small fire. Throughout the entire episode Professor Binns didn't look up once.   
  
    Remus shook his head, sprinkling droplets of water all over Peter.   
  
     "Ugh, just finish your test, Remmy," Peter muttered, returning to his parchment.   
  
     "Right. Thanks. No fires next time though, alright Pete?"   
  
    Peter grunted an agreement, already engrossed in an essay on Fwooper Breeding Legislation.   
  
    Two hours later, the four boys stumbled back into Gryffindor Tower.   
  
     "Need nap," Remus managed to mumbled before staggering off in the direction of the tower. "Presents… after… dinner."   
  
     "I can't make it up the steps," Sirius moaned, collapsing onto the nearby couch. By the time James glanced his way again, the boy was snoring.   
  
    Peter and James remained now, swaying slightly as the stood. "Why are you so tired?" Peter grumbled. After spending the entire night studying for the tests he'd endured in the previous hours, he temper was rather short.   
  
    James broke into a groggy but triumphant grin and sunk into a nearby armchair. "You'll see later. Night, Pete." His head dropped back and shortly he was snoring too.   
  
    Peter glanced at the steps, but suddenly there just seemed to be too many. He curled up in another armchair across from James, facing the fire, and was asleep before he even registered the heat radiating out to him.   


~~*~~

  
    A few hours later, Remus felt himself jostled awake by Sirius jumping on his bed.   
  
     "Presents, presents," the hyper boy chanted in a sing song voice.   
  
    Remus groaned. "Ten more minutes." He felt the pillow being pulled from behind his bed and barely had time to register what was occurring before Sirius smacked him with it.   
  
     "No. Presents. Now."   
  
    He felt Sirius move over and the bed bend under the weight of James and Peter as they flopped onto the bed.   
  
     "Come on, Remmy. We're leaving in the morning, get up would you?" Peter whined.   
  
     "My turn to go first this year," Sirius crowed as Remus finally relented and sat up.   
  
    The other three boys chuckled, but happily dumped their gifts in front of him. He picked up the thin parcel from Peter first and tore at the wrapping.   
  
     "Be careful, you could rip it," Peter said quickly.   
  
     "Sweet Merlin, Pete, this is fantastic," Sirius said as he reverently picked up his new present. In his hand was a Muggle magazine featuring different Muggle sports cars. Over the summer, Peter had made a brief mention of them in one of his letters to Sirius and the boy had seemed very interested. He grinned widely at his friend. "Thanks, mate."   
  
    Peter shrugged and grinned back at him. "Happy Christmas, Seer."   
  
    Sirius picked up his next package and glanced briefly at Remus as he began to tear into it. "A book? Have you lost it, Remmy?"   
  
     "Will you look at the title at least, before you bite my head off?" Remus replied attempting to sound annoyed but failing as a small grin played across his face.   
  
     "_1000 Absolutely Horrible and Tactless Jokes_," Sirius burst into laughter. "Bloody brilliant, mate, thanks."   
  
     "Anytime, Seer. Happy Christmas," Remus smiled at his friend.   
  
    Sirius tore into the wrapping paper on his last gift, as he got through the final layer. Sirius beamed at the box of Every Flavor Beans, but his smile faltered entirely at the second half of the gift. "You realize Remus got away with this because it was a _joke _book. Have you gone nutters, mate? _Advanced Transfiguration Processes_?"   
  
    James chuckled, "Flip to the page I marked."   
  
    Sirius flipped to the page James had placed a marker at and looked back at his friend. "You have lost it. We can't do this."   
  
    Remus scooted to look over Sirius's shoulder. "That's illegal, James," he glanced over at his friend.   
  
    Peter joined the other two, "Not to mention very, very difficult. What sort of prank are you planning to use that on?"   
  
    Eyes gleaming with excitement, James looked at his three friends and tossed the other two their gifts, indicating that they open them.   
  
     "Uh, thanks James," Peter said, already setting the book aside and opening the box of Cockroach Clusters. James shuddered, never entirely understanding how Peter could be so fond of the disgusting sweet.   
  
     "Well this could be interesting," Remus conceded and then proceeded to concentrate on the bag of Chocolate Frogs. "Thanks for the frogs, of course."   
  
     "I swear, there's a point to those books," James said. "I'm not nutters, not yet anyway."   
  
     "Well?" Peter prompted nervously.   
  
     "We're going to become animagi," James said, as though it were the simplest thing in the world.   
  
     "You do realize that Remmy was right, it is illegal?" Sirius asked.   
  
     "Since when do you care about what's legal and what's not, Seer?" James retorted.   
  
     "And it's so advanced," Peter said sadly. "I'll never get it."   
  
     "Sirius and I will help you, we'll figure it out Pete, don't worry," James told him.   
  
    Remus glanced at the page somewhat bitterly, "Not to mention that I _can't_ do it. It's an interesting theory and all to learn, but my body is already housing another creature."   
  
     "Ah, well… you weren't going to be doing it anyway, Remus. The point is for Sirius, Pete and me to do it. Then we can keep you company," James smiled broadly back at the three confused faces.   
  
     "Keep me company? What do you call right now?" Remus asked, looking rather confused.   
  
     "Oh, no," James said, realizing that they were all missing the point. "A werewolf's bite can't pass lycanthropy to other animals. Therefore, if we're all animals, you can't hurt us. You only want to eat humans then, so… if we're not human, we can all stay together. Even during a full moon."   
  
    Sirius burst into a wide grin, "Brilliant, mate. You know, I'm sure it's not all that complicated. A little practice, we'll be running wild with you by the end of the year, I'd bet."   
  
     "I don't _run wild_," Remus replied, his head spinning a bit. "You don't have to do this."   
  
     "No, but we want to," James said. "We've been looking for something and… well, I think this is it."   
  
    Remus shook his head. "It's illegal."   
  
     "No, it's not illegal until we succeed, technically," Sirius pointed out.   
  
     "Which I probably never will, so nothing to worry about there," Peter mumbled.   
  
     "Yeah you will. I told you, we'll help you," James said again.   
  
     "You _are_ nutters. This is dangerous!" Remus said, looking at the two of them as though they were insane.   
  
     "Fun," Sirius replied, a mad look dancing in his eyes.   
  
     "But anyway, that's what the books are all about," James said. "Happy Christmas, mates. Me next." He grabbed a gift and shook it.   
  
     "Oi, you'll kill it," Remus said with a horrified look on his face.   
  
    James quickly put the box back down. "Kill it?" He peered at the box carefully, prodding it cautiously with his finger now.   
  
    Remus laughed, "Just kidding."   
  
    Peter and Sirius burst into laughter as James snickered. "Very funny, hardy-har-har." He then tore into the wrapping and opened the box. "Oh man, thanks Remus. This is great." He pulled out a large jar of broomstick polish and a special polishing rag.   
  
    Remus smiled back, "Happy Christmas."   
  
    Reaching for the next package, James took special care to look over to Sirius, "Not alive, is it?"   
  
    Sirius made an innocent face and shrugged.   
  
    Narrowing his eyes, James pulled off the wrapping paper. "Dungbombs and Stink Pellets! Awesome, Seer. Thanks."   
  
     "Can you imagine the fun we can have with those with Snape?" A dreamy look crossed his face.   
  
    James laughed and grabbed for his last present. He ripped the paper off and unrolled it. A poster of Amadeus Pritchard, considered the best Chaser in the all the Quidditch leagues, was looking back at him.   
  
     "Cool, Pete, thanks," James said, jumping off the bed to pin the poster to the wall next to his own bed.   
  
     "Happy Christmas," Peter said with a happy grin. "Can I open mine?"   
  
     "Yeah, sure Pete," Remus said, pointing to a specific package. "Open mine first?"   
  
    Peter obliged and wrestled the wrapping paper off of the small box. He opened it and pulled out the little sphere. "Uh… thanks Remus. What is it?"   
  
     "A rememberall!" James exclaimed. "Brilliant, Remmy, just what Pete needs. It tells you when you forget things, it'll well, look, its glowing red. You've forgotten something."   
  
    Peter groaned, "But I've forgotten what I've forgotten." The other three boys chuckled. Peter tore through his last gift, a large bag of pranks and candy from Sirius.   
  
     "Thanks mates," he beamed, helping himself to some cockroach clusters. He gestured towards the small pile in front of Remus. "Well, come on Remus, open them!"   
  
    Remus carefully unwrapped the gift from Peter and smiled down at it. Peter had made a copy of the same picture that he had given the other three the year before and put it in a wooden frame.   
  
     "I noticed you were the only one who didn't have a copy of the picture," Peter said shyly.   
  
     "This is… great," Remus said. He'd often wanted to kick himself over the summer for not taking the time to make a fourth copy before he returned the original to Frank. He carefully put it down on the small table next to his bed and then reached for Sirius's gift, unwrapping it to reveal a plethora of destructive goodies.   
  
     "Thanks, Seer. Happy Christmas," he grinned as he rooted through the bag.   
  
     "Happy Holiday to you too, mate. Now let's go get some dinner," Sirius jumped off Remus's bed and dumped his new treasures onto his own. "Last one to the Great Hall has to kiss Snape."   
  
     "Yecch," James hissed and shot out of the room after Sirius.   
  
    Remus chuckled.   
  
     "I'm not kissing Snape," Peter groaned as he headed out the door.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
_Author's Note: "Taste this and tell us if you go blind" is borrowed from Pensieve, an absolutely awesome Marauder's fiction on portkey.org by Oy!Angelina (I think that's her name anyway). Hopefully she doesn't mind that I borrowed it too much, but the line always made me cackled madly. _


	9. Mistletoe

  


**Mistletoe**

  
  
  
    Remus sighed as he collapsed into the armchair. This year two other Gryffindors were staying behind, a Seventh Year, whom he didn't know at all other than as being beyond mad when it came to studying for his N.E.W.T.s, and someone else. Remus had held out a bit of hope that it might be Lily, but he'd seen her climbing into the school carriages when he'd gone down to see the other Marauders off.   
  
    Pulling some of his school books over, Remus opened his Herbology textbook, deciding to get the worst over with first. _Only Pete would find plants so bloody interesting,_ Remus thought wryly. After nearly an hour, he sat up from his previously slouched over the book position, and stretched his arms up to crack his back.   
  
     "Studying?" A very familiar voice came from behind him, sending pleasant little goose bumps down his neck.   
  
     "Ar… er…" he stuttered. "Yes?"   
  
    Melissa Watts laughed, "Are you asking or telling me?"   
  
     "What are _you_ doing here?" Remus blurted out as she walked around the couch and sat next to him.   
  
     "Nothing, and I must admit, it's dreadfully boring. Although far better than that Herbology work. Ugh."   
  
     "You know what I mean, here at Hogwarts."   
  
    She smiled at him, "Because I'm not anywhere else."   
  
    He chuckled, "Is it going to be two weeks of mind games with you then?"   
  
     "That could definitely be enjoyable. Anyway, I figured we might as well try and forget about this silly disagreement between James and Lily that's keeping all of us from being friendly, especially as we're the only two sane Gryffindors here. Morton over there is an absolute lunatic about those N.E.W.T.s, possibly scarier than Lily."   
  
    He chuckled again, "Not possible."   
  
    She grinned wickedly, "I know."   
  
    Remus fully surveyed her for the first time since she'd joined him, "You do realize you're sopping wet?"   
  
     "Alice left something important behind, I had to chase the carriage nearly all the way down to the gate to get it to her," she laughed a bit as she shook her head, spraying water droplets all over both of them.   
  
    _This is what Sirius will never understand_, Remus thought._ Every time I'm with her… I don't want to, what was that stupid idea of his? Drag her off medieval maiden style? That idiot… no… I just want to… sit with her. I want to sit with her until we're both dead and rotting. That'd be just wonderful._ He nearly chuckled out loud. _And a bit morbid._   
  
    Melissa gave him an odd look, "Alright then, Lupin?"   
  
     "Smashing, just smashing, Mel," he grinned back at her.   
  
     "You aren't really planning on doing homework for all of the holiday, are you?" Something akin to a worried glance flitted across her features.   
  
     "Well, not all of the holiday, no." He put down his book entirely and leaned back against the plush cushions. "This is somewhat odd though, I've rarely ever seen you without one of the Gryffindor Five… unless you're escaping from Lily in the library and then you just tend to ramble like a lunatic about what how nutters _she_ is." Remus winces, _Way to go, Remus. Alienate the girl entirely. You just called her a madwoman. _  
  
    To his surprise Melissa burst into laughter, "I suppose I do tend to seem a bit loopy after several hours studying with Lily. I'm just not much of a studier and she won't let me get away with it."   
  
     "How do you get those grades then?"   
  
     "Well, I actually do all my homework, but studying? No, I hate it. I just pay attention in class. Seems to work well enough. I get the same grades whether Lily is all over me to study or I completely forget there's a test."   
  
     "Ugh. Another Sirius," Remus groaned.   
  
     "Huh?"   
  
     "Sirius. The boy _never_ studies but he always scrapes by somehow. It's the most annoying thing _ever_. I swear, the three of us want to kill him anytime we've got exams." Remus trailed off and the two sat in a somewhat uncomfortable silence for a few minutes.   
  
     "So what do you want to do?" they said in unison. Remus offered a small smile and Melissa grinned back.   
  
     "Well… I was left with the task of somehow procuring a rooster before the end of holidays," Melissa offered.   
  
     "A… rooster?"   
  
     "As in cock-a-doodle-doo, yes," she grinned wickedly.   
  
     "Sweet Merlin, who told you to procure a rooster?"   
  
     "Lily."   
  
     "Oh, this can't be good."   
  
    She upped the wicked grin a notch, "Never is."   


~~*~~

  
    Three days later, it was Christmas Eve and Melissa and Remus were sitting quietly in the library. Remus was finishing up his holiday homework and Melissa had her feet propped up on the table as she read the _Arithmancy Advocate Weekly_.   
  
     "Out," Madame Pince said, showing up in their corner pointing towards the door with her wand. "I'm closing up for the evening."   
  
    The two packed up their bags as she walked off and started towards the exit.   
  
     "Evening, Madame Pince," Remus called over to the circulation desk, hoping that she'd forgive him for speaking so loudly in the library.   
  
     "Happy Christmas, ma'am," Melissa chimed after him. Both were surprised when the librarian left out a rare, small smile and bid them both to have a good evening and a happy Christmas.   
  
     "You know," Melissa began as they walked towards Gryffindor Tower, "I've had my doubts that she was really human, but perhaps I was wrong."   
  
     "What did you think she was?" Remus asked, grinning.   
  
     "A droid, possibly, or maybe a robot," Mel replied, grinning right back.   
  
     "A what or a what?"   
  
     "Muggle things," she smiled conspiratorially.   
  
    He shook his head slightly, "Right. Ok then. Oh hell- I mean, uh, sorry, it's just… Filch."   
  
    Melissa burst into laughter, "I'm not Alice, 'oh hell' is a regular part of my vocabulary. Why do you look so worried, skin his cat again, did you?"   
  
     "How did you- " he was cut off as he felt the girl grab his robe and pull him into a nearby door.   
  
     "I find it best to avoid the old git whenever possible," she whispered in his ear, causing Remus to suppress a shiver and thank Merlin it was pitch black in… well, wherever they were.   
  
     "Where are we?"   
  
     "I reckon I don't exactly know," she whispered.   
  
     "How do you not know?"   
  
     "Oh well… it's a broom closet. It moves, we could still be where we were, or it could dump us somewhere entirely diff-" Her voice stopped as they both felt a weird sensation very similar to traveling by Floo powder. "Scratch that, I suspect we've moved." He felt her hand move past him and turn the knob. A moment later, light flooded in and the two students spilled out, looking somewhat disheveled.   
  
    Melissa laughed, "Well this looks right wrong, doesn't it?"   
  
    Remus blanched, but she just giggled.   
  
     "Oh, you're act far too old for _twelve_ sometimes Remus. Come on, we're down by the kitchen, let's start back upstairs."   
  
    He looked around and realized she was right, he could recognize the portrait of the fruit bowl that his the kitchens just down the hall to his left.   
  
     "How'd you know about that broom closet?" he inquired.   
  
     "Oh, it's a useful little thing. Peter and I were talking about it once. He's dead certain it runs on some sort of pattern, but I'm dead certain it doesn't. I think it just likes some people and comes to help them when they need it. Maybe one of the founders was a troublemaker at heart. At any rate, many times I've been far from a hidden passageway and needed a quick exit and then, what do you know? It just turns up." She affectionately patted the old wooden door. A moment later, it disappeared from sight.   
  
     "Why haven't I ever really noticed it?" Remus asked, looking at the now very solid wall.   
  
     "I think it has a bit of a concealment charm on it, not very strong, but if you aren't looking for it, or at least aware of its existence, then it's a lot harder to find. Come on, I want to get to bed before Father Christmas comes," she started off at a jog towards Gryffindor Tower.   
  
    Remus quickly and easily caught up with her. "Father Christmas?" he teased with a smirk.   
  
     "Oh… bite me, wolf boy," she teased right back. "Do all of you witch and wizard raised have to mock me about that."   
  
    Remus was momentarily taken aback, no one had ever teased him about _that_ before, but then he thought about it. _Why not? It's just another part of me. And I know that she'd never actually say it in front of anyone else. Well… maybe the Marauder's, but that's only because she knows that they know._   
  
     "Where?" he asked, bearing his teeth and looking at her neck.   
  
     "I thought you were a werewolf, not a vampire," she giggled as she slowed down to a walk.   
  
     "I vant to sook your blooooood," he drawled, causing her to collapse in a fit of giggles.   
  
     "Oh that was just… terrible," she spit out in between laughter.   
  
    Remus let his face fall and tried to look downtrodden, only succeeding in failing spectacularly and joining in her laughter.   
  
    When they'd regained their composure they both started back off for the Common Room.   
  
     "How'd you know about the cat?" Remus asked her as they rounded the final corner.   
  
     "Didn't for sure until just now. Rebecca and Tessa got detention for that stunt you guys pulled, I believe. Both were livid about it. Becca is still plotting revenge." Without really glancing at the Fat Lady, Melissa recited, "Hollyberries."   
  
     "Not tonight, dear," the Fat Lady replied, her friend Violet, also in the frame, giggling.   
  
     "Huh?" Melissa said, turning her attention to the portrait. "What do you mean 'not tonight'?"   
  
     "Surely you know what holiday it is," the Fat Lady held up a sprig of some sort of plant over their heads. "If you want to gain entrance, you'll need to keep up the holiday spirit."   
  
     "The holiday spirit?" Remus repeated, absolutely baffled, and then leaned forwards to take a better look at the plant. He shot back from the portrait as though it were on fire and then realizing his proximity to Melissa, took a step away from her too. "Mistletoe?" he squeaked.   
  
    Melissa's eyes widened. "You're daft," she told the portrait. "The password is hollyberries,_ let us in_."   
  
     "Nope," Violet giggled tipsily. Remus then noticed the empty box of chocolate liqueurs littering the bottom the frame and bit back a groan. The Fat Lady's friend Violet visiting always made things more difficult, but when they were hammered… he did let out a groan.   
  
     "Come now, kissing below the mistletoe is a sign for good fertility," Violet chimed.   
  
    This time Melissa squeaked, "Fertility? You're beyond daft! I'm a _Second Year_!"  
  
     "Well, Vi, what are we to do with it if everyone refuses?" the Fat Lady asked.   
  
     "Let the boys have it if they like it," Violet relented sadly. "That young Mr. Morton seemed keen on the idea when his Ravenclaw girlfriend was waiting out here earlier."   
  
    Melissa and Remus exchanged gagging glances.   
  
     "Some Gryffindors," Violet huffed. "Even a few of the Ravenclaws were willing to give into the holiday cheer. But your lot," she was addressing the Fat Lady now, "seems to have no spines at all."   
  
     "No spines at all?" Melissa interrupted the portraits huffily, with her hands angrily placed on her hips. "No spines at all?" she repeated slightly louder. "The password is hollyberries, you old loon." And as she said it, she took a step towards Remus and gave him a very quick kiss on the cheek. She then looked up at the portrait defiantly. "Now let us in."   
  
    The Fat Lady's eyes widened in a pleased shock and she swung open immediately.   
  
     "No spines, my arse, Vi. Every single one of them is a Gryffindor through and through." Remus and Melissa both heard the Fat Lady retort as the two scrambled through the portrait hole.   
  
    The two of them made it to the middle of the Common Room and stood midway between the two stairs the ascended into their respective dormitories.   
  
     "Well… er," Remus stuttered, his cheeks still flushed. He chanced a quick glance over at her and saw that the back of her neck seemed unnaturally red, for some reason that made him want to smile.   
  
    Melissa seemed to be staring resolutely down at her shoes. "Ah, yes, well, good night, Remus. See you in the morning." Then she bounded quickly up the stairs.   
  
    Remus listened to her retreating footsteps and leaned against the wall in shock, pulling his hand up to the side of his face where her lips had grazed his cheeks. He shook his head as though trying to clear it and felt a very dopey grin slide across his face. _Perhaps Sirius isn't completely mental_, he thought, standing still for a moment before starting up the steps. _Thank Merlin for mistletoe_.   


~~*~~

  
    The following day, Remus was a bit worried about going down to the Common Room. _What if we spend the rest of the break avoiding one another because of that incident last night? Oh, you stupid, stupid portrait and your bloody 'holiday cheer'_. He grimaced._ Come on, prove you're a Gryffindor, you big chicken, and go downstairs._ Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and started down the steps. _Just be nonchalant, nonchalant, nonchalant, noncha-. _  
  
     "Morning, Remus," Melissa called cheerily. "Want a Hershey's bar?" She held out a thin, wrapped bar to him.   
  
     "A what?"   
  
     "It's a Muggle sweet, my mum sent me a bunch for Christmas," she smiled. "She always forgets I hate chocolate."   
  
     "How can you hate chocolate?" he asked, looking at her as though she'd just suggested he go hug Snape.   
  
     "Well, not all chocolate, but bars of pure chocolate. Yuck," she made an amusing face and he snorted through his mouthful of chocolate.   
  
    Suddenly her face perked up, "Happy Christmas."   
  
     "Happy Christmas," he mumbled right back through the chocolate. She laughed.   
  
     "You know, it really is a shame that our groups of friends don't seem to hang out much anymore. This whole Lily and James thing is just madness. They need to snog and get it over with."   
  
    Remus nearly choked on his chocolate, "My sentiments exactly." He was pleased to realize that whatever had happened last night wasn't going to effect how they behaved towards one another today. "You know, I meant to ask you, why did you stay for the holiday?"   
  
    For the first time since the start of the break, Remus saw the slightly guarded façade that Melissa had taken to keeping up recently sag slightly, her grin faltered and a darkness permeated her eyes, but a moment later it was gone. Had he blinked, Remus knew he would've missed it.   
  
    She let out her breath softly and smiled wistfully. "It's safer for me here."   
  
     "Huh?"   
  
     "It's just safer for me here, for now anyway… what about you? Why are you here?"   
  
     "I'd rather be here," Remus said, with a slight shrug. Melissa's mouth formed a small 'o' and she looked off into the fire the house elves had prepared. He just shrugged again. "Things got… difficult when I was bit. My parents aren't really… bad… they just don't know what to do anymore. At first, they went to every length to try every cure… but when that didn't work. My dad didn't take it well. My mum is alright when it's just the two of us…" He shook his head, trying to clear it of the memories. "But it's Christmas, so let's not talk about why we're both here."   
  
     "You know, here isn't so bad. When Lily's parents were having those rows last year, she was so upset about spending Christmas alone, but when we all got back, she said it was one of her favorite Christmas's ever."   
  
    The two sat in a companionable silence for several moments until Melissa pulled out a book and Remus began his essay on Compostura Charms.   


~~*~~

  
     "We never found that rooster," Remus commented at breakfast on the last day of the holiday.   
  
     "Oh Merlin," Melissa muttered. "I completely forgot about the rooster." She chuckled. "Maybe Lily can transfigure one of our desks this time."   
  
     "Did she ever get a new one? After the whole… lizard thing," Remus asked as he joined her laughter.   
  
     "Before she even got back from the Hospital Wing, those house elves are so prompt! Then Professor McGonagall showed up and put an anti-transformation charm on it."   
  
     "Are you ever going to tell me what the rooster is for?"   
  
    She looked at him, grinned and then looked around the Great Hall, "Awfully different during the holiday, isn't it?"   
  
    There House tables were all still there, although they had been done away with for the Christmas Feast, and at each table sat less than five, with the exception of Ravenclaw, where there were still less than ten, students. They were the only two at the Gryffindor table as Morton and his girlfriend were both sitting at the Ravenclaw table.   
  
    He gave her a look, "Yeah, it is."   
  
    She finished up her breakfast and sighed, "Well, it's been fun, Remus, but I've got to go do two weeks worth of homework. It was lovely procrastinating but it appears I'm out of time. Lily is going to be all over me when they get back… no rooster _and_ my homework's not done." She grinned and disappeared from the table a moment later. He watched her go, shaking his head slightly over the unbelievable twist of luck that led her to stay at Hogwarts over the break.   
  
    He felt the bench stir as someone slipped into the seat next to him.   
  
     "Trixie, hello," Remus said as he slid back into the real world.   
  
     "Hello Remus," she smiled slightly. "You know, I really just came over to say hello, didn't have anything else planned."   
  
     "Trixie McGonagall at a loss for words, the world must've stopped spinning," he teased gently.   
  
    Her face froze for a second and he suddenly remembered when this loss for words had begun, causing him to fight the urge to kick himself.   
  
    She forced a grin back on, "Well… wonders never cease, I suppose."   
  
     "So… how are you? I haven't seen you outside of class much."   
  
    She shrugged, "Getting by… I've come to the conclusion I really don't like the holidays. My Aunt Lola offered to let me stay for Christmas but… I decided to stay with Aunt Minnie instead."   
  
     "Oh." _Oh? All you can come up with is oh? Come on Remus, you're supposed to be pretty intelligent. Come up with something to make her forget all this pain for a minute or two. Is that even possible?... Probably not…_   
  
    Trixie sighed and her shoulders slumped a bit, "Sorry Remus, I think I'll go back to my Common Room now. Aunt Minnie's so worried about me… it's ridiculous… so I just try to talk to people once in a while where she can see it… so thanks."   
  
     "You don't have to go, Trixie," Remus said quickly. "I mean, if you want to, you can go, but… you really don't have to."   
  
    She smiled so sadly at him that it nearly broke his heart and then quietly dismissed herself and walked quickly out of the Great Hall.   


~~*~~

  
    James heard Remus groan lightly as he eased open the door to the dormitory and entered with the other two Marauders. The full moon was approaching that evening and Remus was already too knackered to make it through the afternoon classes.   
  
     "We told Professor McGonagall that you had the flu again," Peter told his friend quietly as he leaned over his bed.   
  
    Remus smiled weakly up at them. "Thanks."   
  
     "No problem."   
  
    James crossed to his own corner of the room and unloaded his satchel. He crossed back to Remus and handed him a long piece of parchment. "Notes," he gestured at the paper. "Test on Friday. Lovely way to end the week, eh?"   
  
     "Are you ready to head off to Madame Pomfrey then, Remus?" Sirius asked, none of the usual insane glint in his eyes, only an urge to take care of his friend visible within the orbs.   
  
     "No, no, I'm fine," Remus replied, his voice barely above a whisper. "Would you just stop yelling, please?"   
  
     "Oi, that's it," Sirius said. "Definitely time to go. We're not yelling, Remmy, we've been talking normal. And you know if you wait much longer, you won't look the least bit steady on your feet when we walk down there."   
  
    Remus groaned and pulled his pillow over his head.   
  
    Peter tutted and pulled it off, "Come on, Remmy. Time to go visit Madame Pomfrey."   
  
     "I'm not_ five_, Peter," Remus hissed at him. "I'm just sick." Grumbling he pulled himself into sitting position and then slid his legs out of the bed muttering about 'good for nothing best friends and their stupid ideas… I just want to sleep…'   
  
     "Aw, you know ya love us, Remmy," Sirius beamed, tossing his shoes over to him.   
  
     "I'll show you what I know," he continued to grumble as he made his way to the door.   
  
     "He's in a right old mood, isn't he?" Peter observed.   
  
     "Usually is around now," James added, pulling open the door as Remus scowled at him.   
  
     "I'm _not_ an invalid. I can open my own doors."   
  
    James just shrugged, "Never said you couldn't."   
  
     "See you guys tomorrow," Remus muttered back at Peter and Sirius, who were already spreading the plans for something out across the floor and eyeing the teddy bear sticking out of James's trunk with a strange glint in their eyes.   
  
    Remus slowly made his way into the Common Room and out of the portrait hole with James strolling along next to him.   
  
     "We haven't gotten much of anywhere with the animagus thing yet…" James began. "I suppose it might not be as easy as I thought, but I'm still sure we'll get it eventually. There are about ten primer spells that the-"  
  
    Remus groaned and slumped against the wall for a moment. James winced and shot out his arm to steady his friend.   
  
    _I hate this! I hate that I can't help him more. I hate that this makes him so sick. I hate it._ James shook his head angrily and took a deep breath. He noticed Remus doing the same. _Sod off, Potter, you git. If you think it's bad, I bet I can't even imagine what Remus is going through right now. Just keep on trying to distract him._ "Come on, Remus. We'll be there in a minute and you said Madame Pomfrey's got that pain potion, it'll help a bit until the moon rises."   
  
    Remus moved his head in a barely perceptible nod and continued shuffling forward, slightly bend over with one of his arms wrapped tightly around his middle and the other clutching his head.   
  
     "Anyway, I was saying, Sirius and I both have the first two primer spells done and Peter's nearly got the first one. We just need to find a little more time to help him. You know… trasnsfiguration's not really his strongest suit, although there's a tonic in there for something or other, which he already seems to have a grasp on. Something to do with plants. I hate Herbology… but anyway. Maybe by the end of this year we can keep you company. And… here we are. Let's get you inside."   
  
    Remus and James shuffled through the door into a very busy infirmary and Remus automatically headed towards the last bed in the ward, flopping himself onto it with a groan.   
  
     "I hate this." James heard him mutter into the pillow, causing James to wince again.   
  
     "Yeah… I know you do," James said softly, sitting down in the chair next to the bed. "I'll wait for Madame Pomfrey with you then, alright? Then I've got a load of homework to get to… you won't be missing anything fun tonight, that's for sure," his face had a sour expression on it at the thought of homework that caused Remus to manage a small chuckle.   
  
     "Oh Remus, you're here. Thank goodness, the infirmary is just teeming today. That stupid potion professor, if he tests another poison on the students, I'll just…" Madame Pomfrey was off and running, more to herself than either of them, about the dangers of deranged professors and their inane exams. Both boys exchanged amused glances as she bustled over and handed Remus a steaming goblet. "Bottoms up, young man, we need to get you out of here. You're running late-"  
  
    She cut off as her gaze suddenly fixed on James, she quickly turned her eyes on Remus.   
  
    The boy made a horrid face at the taste of the elixir and then looked down at the floor, "He knows."   
  
    Her eyes widened a bit and she turned back to James, "Mr. Potter, you do understand the importance that the school not be made aware-"  
  
     "I know, Madame. I'd never tell," he interrupted her. "I just wanted to make sure he got down here alright."   
  
    A loud wail followed by what sounded like a goose honk sounded from near the entrance to the Hospital Wing causing Madame Pomfrey to throw her hands up in the air, "Not the animal transfigurations again already. Oh Merlin, some student always has to aim at another student. They just don't _understand_ it's not made for human use." She clucked her tongue and glanced from Remus to James, sighing. "Mr. Lupin, would you mind dreadfully if Mr. Potter escorted you out? As he seems to know… it would be helpful this evening."   
  
    Remus offered her a weak smile, "That's fine Madame Pomfrey. I'll tell him what to do."   
  
     "That's a dear," she offered him a rare smile. "You know where the cloak is-" There was another loud goose honk, followed by another wail. "Well, off you go. Thank you, Mr. Potter." And she was gone.   
  
     "Escort you? You don't just stay here?" James asked his friend.   
  
     "Ah… no. Come on now James, I know you read up on… lycanthropy. I'm not exactly safe as the wolf," he said very quietly. "Would you go pull the cloak out of that wardrobe over there? It looks a little weird, but it's the only one in there. Maybe sure you don't put it on." Remus gestured over to the wardrobe across the room.   
  
    James crossed over, opened the doors and pulled out the cloak, gasping as he saw it and rushing back to Remus. "Remus, do you know what this _is_? Well, I mean, of course you do! My dad's got one and it's… sweet Merlin, an invisibility cloak!"   
  
    Remus smiled at his friend's excitement. "Yeah, it is. I think the potion is kicking in, I can move a little better now. Let's go before I start to get worse." Remus heaved himself off of the bed and started to cross to the entrance. "Make sure you just toss it over your arm, don't wear it or you'll go invisible."   
  
     "I know," James said, the excitement clear in his voice, "Are we? I mean, do we get to put it on?"   
  
    Remus chuckled, "Yeah, but not yet. Come on." The boys walked out to the large, wooden doors that marked the main entrance to the castle. Remus looked around and motioned to James to step closer. "Now."   
  
    A moment later the cloak was around the two boys and Remus was whisptering, "Watch your feet. We're going to the Whomping Willow."   
  
     "We're what?" James asked, visibly startled.   
  
     "Shhh! Whisper, you prat. We're invisible! Come on."   
  
     "Oh Merlin," James sighed, but slowly the two shuffled down to the Whomping Willow.   
  
     "Hand me that stick, James?"   
  
     "What stick?"   
  
     "The long one to your right."   
  
    The tree, although it couldn't see them, had clearly heard them and gone from the occasionally branch whacking into the ground to an all out assault on the air particles around the tree.   
  
     "You're mad Remus. Why are we here?"   
  
     "There's a passage under the tree." He felt the stick press into his hand. "It goes to Middlebury Manor."   
  
     "The Shrieking Shack?" James said, apparently worried. "But Remus, it's considered the most severely haunted building in… the entire wizard world, isn't it? You have to spend the night in there?"   
  
    Remus, who James could feel slowly doubling up, more and more in pain, as they walked, let out a feeble laugh. "There's no ghost in there at all. Just me. That's what they hear." The boy leaned forward a bit and prodded a particular spot on the tree. "Right then, James. Get out from under the cloak. I've only got a moment before the mad thing starts thrashing again."   
  
    James removed himself from the cloth and looked at the spot of thin air where his best friend stood. "Well… good luck, Remus."   
  
     "Thanks." James saw the stick drop to the ground. "Have fun with that homework."   
  
     "Oh, bugger off," James said.   
  
     "See you tomorrow, James." And with that, James, listening carefully for the swish of cloak, assumed his friend was now beneath the tree, safe in the passage way, heading into Hogsmeade for a very long night.   
  
  
    _Author's Note: There's a line from The Mistletoe Bough by Anthony Trollope that I stole since the story gave me the idea. A sugar quill to whomever figures out which line it is.   
    Also, for those who have been reading you'll notice that one of the original O/C's was called Melissa Denezyuk. Her last name was a temporary thing until I came up with one I liked and so, to avoid further confusion, from this points forwards she'll be refered to as Melissa Watts, which is far more British than Denezyuk.  
    Also, it might be several days before the next chapter is up as I'm returning to college tomorrow and my internet connection is always cruddy initially. Sorry!
_


	10. Gryffindor v Slytherin

  
  
  


**Gryffindor v. Slytherin**

  
  
  
    "_Why_ do you two look so… smug?" Remus asked three days later as they headed towards Herbology.   
  
    James opened his mouth to speak but snapped it shut immediately, jabbing Sirius in the ribs and pointing to the boy trudging through few inches of snow that lay on the ground out to the greenhouse.   
  
    "Concentrate on the bush, Remmy," Sirius said, with a wicked grin on his face and a quick glance at Peter. "Old Snivellus is about to get some company."   
  
    "Snivellus?" Remus asked and then quickly figured out who he was referring to. He sighed and rolled his eyes.   
  
    A moment later as Severus Snape walked passed a bush just beyond the castle, a very small, brown object toddled out after him.  
  
    "Hug me, Sevvie!"  
  
    "I wuv 'oo, Sevvikins!"  
  
    "Play with me, Sevvie, play with me!"  
  
    Snape spun around, looking completely and totally befuddled. Behind him was the teddy bear that James had hauled into the Common Room several weeks earlier. Snape glared at it, raised his wand and said an incantation that the Marauder's couldn't hear. The bear flew twenty feet up in the air and landed hard behind Snape.   
  
    The sallow skinned boy continued on his way to the greenhouse as the other Slytherins catcalled 'Hug me, Sevvie!' and 'I wuv 'oo, too, Sevvie!' Severus merely lowered his head to stare at the ground and trudged on. He nearly made it to the greenhouse door when the bear managed to toddle back up to him.   
  
    "Hug me, Sevvie! Hug me, Sevvie! Hug me, Sevvie!"   
  
    The bear continued to repeat the one phrase over and over while it's little stitched face contorted to look unbearably sad.   
  
    This time Snape didn't even bother with his wand, in a move that would've made any Muggle born football fan proud, he whirled around and punted the soft bear back towards the castle. The incident only caused the Slytherin catcalls to increase and for some of the Gryffindors to join in.   
  
    Snape quickly let himself into the greenhouse and the rest of the class trickled in after him, smirking in his direction.   
  
    Professor Sprout made was about ten minutes into her lecture when the entire class was interrupted by a very loud, "I wuv 'oo, Sevvikins!"   
  
    Turning an alarming shade of red, Snape peered down under his desk to where the bear was happily perched on his shoes, barraging him with feel good sayings.   
  
    "Mr. Snape, if you'd please put your teddy bear away," Professor Sprout admonished in a confused tone, as though it were the last thing she'd ever expected to say to Severus Snape.   
  
    "I… but… it's _not_ mine, Professor," Snape said loudly. The bear suddenly burst into loud wails.   
  
    "It does appear that the bear doesn't agree with that assessment, Professor," Rebecca Longbottom commented, trying to hide a grin behind her hand.   
  
    "Mr. Snape, ten points from Slytherin and you must control that bear this instant," Professor Sprout stated, her hands on her hips and her toe tapping impatiently.   
  
    "It's _not_ mine! And I don't… I mean, I've no idea how to make it be quiet," Snape sputtered.   
  
    "Oi, Professor," James said. "I think I've heard about these kinds of animals. It Snape cuddles it on his lap, it should be quiet for the rest of the class session."   
  
    "Well then, Mr. Snape, do take care of that bear. We've leaping toadstools to discuss."   
  
    "I but-" Snape looked around panicking.   
  
    "No buts, Mr. Snape. Do shut that bear up, or it'll be one hundred point from Slytherin and a week's detention. There's no excuse for bring a stuffed bear to Herbology class… I've no idea what would possess you… anyway, time is ticking, Mr. Snape." Professor Sprout wore an expression that left no room for discussion on the subject.  
  
    The entire class watched as Severus Snape bent under his desk, picked up the wailing bear as though it were diseased and plopped it into his lap.   
  
    The wailing stopped immediately.  
  
    Professor Sprout finished up her lecture and the class split up into groups of four to work on the leaping toadstools. For a moment, Snape ventured to put the teddy bear down and it immediately began its mushy tirade again. "I wuv 'oo, Sevvikins! Play with me! Hug-". Snape snatched it up quickly and slammed it angrily back into his lap as he began to dig in the dirt, averting his eyes from the rest of the class.   
  
    An hour later, the bell rang across the grounds, signaling the end of class. As they piled out, the Marauder's watched as Snape violently chucked the bear into the nearby bushes. After taking about ten steps though, the bear managed to extricate itself and began to toddle after Snape, calling out pitifully to him. All it succeeded in getting out though was "Play wi-" before the angry Second Year whirled around and set the entire bear on fire with one quick wand movement. The bear was reduced to a pile of ashes. Snape leered at the pile for a moment and then stalked off towards the castle, his fellow Slytherins still jeering after him.   
  
    "Poor Snivellus," Sirius said his most innocent expression upon his face. "I think he needs a hug."   
  
    James and Peter burst into hysterical laughter and even the sides of Remus's mouth quirked upwards, despite his attempt to look stern.   


~~*~~

  
    "What is it with this fixation you've got on that girl, Sirius?" James huffed. "A _girl_! Who cares about girls, you lunatic, we've got better stuff to do."   
  
    Sirius just shook his head at his friend as his eyes followed the form of Madison Bell as she walked towards the lake with two other Gryffindor First Years. "You just don't understand, my friend. She's…" He shook his head at a loss for words to describe her.   
  
    "She's eleven!" James muttered. "Isn't that illegal?"  
  
    "To look at her?" Sirius glanced at his friend. "No, I don't think so and as that's all I plan to do… I think I'm good."   
  
    "Some could interpret this as stalking..." Sirius made no move to acknowldge James comment. The messy haired boy sighed. "I have told you the Gryffindor Five are up to something… still looking for revenge from that joke back in September, I'd wager. Tessa and Alice seem like the types to hold a grudge for a long time and Mel and Evans probably think if they wait long enough, we'll let down our guard."  
  
    Sirius snorted and finally turned his attention away from Madison.   
  
    "What?" James asked him.   
  
    "Evans. With all the other girls you use their given names," Sirius observed.   
  
    "Fine then," James huffed. "_Smith_ and _Maris_ seem like they'd hold grudges and _Watts_ and _Evans_ seem to think we'll let our guard down, better?"   
  
    Sirius just snorted again and then looked up to the sky, "You know, I suspect you might be right about that. I caught Rebecca-" He paused to smirk and give James an amused glance "-I'm sorry, _Longbottom_, sneaking honey out of the kitchens yesterday. They've been stockpiling honey for nearly three months, is it? What does one do with that much _honey_?"   
  
    James gave him a mystified glance then shrugged. "Where are Peter and Remus?"   
  
    "Honeydukes. I think they were going to stop in at Zonko's, too," Sirius said, shaking his head. "Peter said he 'needs a sugar rush like a niffler needs galleons and gold watches' and hauled Remus out of the Common Room." Sirius clucked his tongue. "At any rate, I think Remus could use the trip, that last change was pretty brutal on him."   
  
    James sighed. "I know. Well, we've all finally got both of those two primer spells down… this ruddy third one though. _What_ does that have to do with animagus transfigurations?"   
  
    "Got me, mate," Sirius grumbled. "I know, I hate the ruddy thing too. And if we can't do it, how're we going to teach it to, Pete? I was hoping we'd be able to bound up to Remus in our animagus states a week after we opened those books."   
  
    James nodded in agreement and then grinned for a moment, "What do you think you'll be?"  
  
    "A lion. I'm going to be a lion," Sirius said proudly.   
  
    "A what?" James stared at him as though he'd gone mad.   
  
    "A lion. You know, roar, grrr and all that," Sirius animatedly acted out the sounds and swiped his hands in front of him like claws.   
  
    "You're mad," James said, his face a mixture of horror and utter amusement, as he stepped back from his friend. "You bloody well better not be a bloody lion, because I'm sure that wouldn't look conspicuous to everyone." He began to pantomime looking out a window. "Oh, look there Professor McGonagall, it's a lion on the grounds." He shook his head. "No, that's not obvious at all."   
  
    Sirius just looked at him. "I'm going to be a lion," he repeated.   
  
    "Mad. Nutters. Absolutely loony," James muttered.   
  
    "Fine, Potter. And what exactly are you going to be?" Sirius groused.  
  
    James cocked his head to the side for a moment and then turned to look at his friend, "A duck."  
  
    "A duck. A duck?" Sirius sputtered. "And _I'm_ mad? Nutters? Absolutely loony, was it? At least _I'll_ be able to keep a werewolf in check, you prat. If I were a wolf, I'd be inclined to think duck would make a far better meal than friend."   
  
    "Mock it all you like. I think I'd make a smashing duck. At least _I'd_ blend in here, Black," James said. A moment later a wicked smile crossed his face. "I suppose though, there is a small chance I could be… a cow."   
  
    Sirius's jaw dropped as James burst into laugher and ran for the castle, Sirius taking off after him a moment later.   
  
    Halfway there, James, still laughing madly, called over his shoulder a very loud, "Moooooooo."   


~~*~~

  
    "Oh bloody hell, Peter," Remus groaned, looking at the dozen coconuts sitting on the table. "I don't know how to fix this."   
  
    Peter echoed his groan. "I'm sorry."  
  
    "I know," Remus said, rubbing his head. He could feel the throbbing beginning as it often did when he had to tutor Peter in transfiguration, never his best subject to begin with. He repeated, "I know."   
  
    Peter cautiously prodded of the coconuts with his wand, sending it rolling across the table.   
  
    "Ah, coconuts!" A cheery voice said.   
  
    "Sirius," Remus cried out happily. "James! Fantastic. Fix this." He gestured to the coconuts.   
  
    "Er… _what_ is this? Coconuts definitely weren't part of the homework," James said, glancing at the table full of the round, brown fruits.   
  
    "No, it wasn't," Peter moaned, slumping in his chair. "I hit them accidentally. I didn't mean… well, what I mean to say is that we really need our texts back."   
  
    "Your texts?" Sirius asked, picking up a coconut and tossing it from one hand to the other.   
  
    "Would you mind, Sirius? If you drop that and break it, one of us will need to get a new book," Remus snapped as James quickly snatched the coconut from his possession in midair and peered at it.  
  
    "Hmmm," the bespectacled boy murmured. "Herbology, I think. If you look closely you can make out a few of the letters on the fruit." He shrugged and muttered a countercharm. A moment later, the thick green textbook was in his hand. "Nothing unfixable, Pete, never is."  
  
    Peter gave James a grateful smile as the other boy went about turning all the coconuts back into textbooks.   
  
    "I thought you lot went into Hogsmeade today?" James asked, lowering his voice as he did.   
  
    "We did," Peter confirmed. "We got back about an hour ago. There's a sack of stuff under Remus's bed. How was your detention?"   
  
    "It could've been worse. It was definitely worth it to see all those levitating Hufflepuffs. Nackle didn't seem to appreciate my using up the rest of his billywig stingers and all… but I collected enough to replace his stores," James said, rubbing a sore spot on his hand where he'd accidentally imbedded a stinger.   
  
    "I still can't believe that madman sent you out into the snow to find billywig stingers," Sirius said, shaking his head. "I'll still never figure out how you found them under three inches of snow…"   
  
    James grinned and looked at Remus, who replied, "_Revealus_."   
  
    "Huh?" Sirius asked, his confused expression matching Peter's.   
  
    "It's a simple charm," Remus said. "For instance, _Revealus Billywig Stingers_ allowed the snow to disappear over them. James just had to look for the holes in the snow. Nackle would probably die if he figured out how quick that detention was… it was supposed to take _hours_." The two boys chuckled.   
  
    Suddenly the portrait hole burst open and five very loud girls stumbled in, all yelling at one another, with Frank Longbottom trailing at a safe distance, shaking his head.   
  
    "Bloody hell, Mel, what were you thinking, and you Tessa?" Lily yelled. "Sorry, stupid question, were you thinking? No." She cut them off without giving them a chance to answer. "I thought not. You irresponsible, childish-"  
  
    "How could you tell her?" Melissa had turned on Tessa. "What idiotic notion could possess you to tell _Lily_ about _this_? I swear-"  
  
    "It's not her fault," Alice yelled, jerking her thumb towards Tessa. "Lily tricked us and forced us to-"  
  
    "Yeah, right, you great big sodding prat," Rebecca hollered at Alice. "As though the two of you couldn't fight against a Befuddlement Charm of Lily's, they're her _weak_ point. You know she-"  
  
    "This is _not_ my fault. It was that bloody Befuddlement Charm!" Tessa protested loudly. "And who knew a rooster would do that if you put it in a-"  
  
    By now the entire House had stopped what they were doing to watch the five of them go at it. They continued to cross over towards their own dormitory and stopped at the bottom of the steps.   
  
    "I didn't even know there was a rooster until this morning. I mean really, how am I supposed to keep a rooster quiet in _class_?" Tessa continued to rave. "You're a mental case, you do know that, Mel, right? A bloody rooster-"  
  
    "- I know I never said you shouldn't take a rooster to Charms, just why you didn't let me put the bloody Silencing Charm on it first, I'll never know, really," Rebecca hissed. "But that's besides the point, the point is, Lily Evans-"  
  
    "Would you just shut the bloody hell up?" Alice screamed over all of them, stamping her foot for emphasis. The other four girls fell silent immediately, and even Frank took a step farther back from the girls, his face showing utter shock.   
  
    "Er… yes, Alice?" Tessa ventured cautiously.  
  
    "Oh, you're all impossible," the plump, blonde girl cried and then burst into tears, as she ran up the steps to the girls dormitory.  
  
    "Now look at what you've all done!" Lily hissed and quickly scrambled up the steps after her.   
  
    "All that we've done?" Melissa shrieked indignantly. "I think not. This is all Lily's fault. I'll be damned if I'm going to go to a _month's_ worth of detentions because of her stupidity." She glared crossly up the steps, "No, I think not." Then she stormed back to the portrait hole and out into the castle.   
  
    "Oh hell," Rebecca muttered and collapsed onto a nearby sofa. "I don't think this is very good."   
  
    Tessa shook her head in agreement, "No, I don't think so either." Her face suddenly fell completely as she turned to Rebecca, "You know this isn't either of their faults. They're both just so worried about… well-" she lowered her voice to just above a whisper, "you-know-who."   
  
    "Ack," Rebecca made a disgusted noise, "Just say his bloody proper name, would you? Vol-de-mort."   
  
    The four boys leaned in closer to listen to the conversation.   
  
    Tessa lowered her head into her hands and said quietly, "Sometimes I think her mum is nutters. Mel should _not_ know why it was the McGonagalls. I mean… Lily's fear is sort of justified, but Mel's… sweet Merlin, I'd be ready to explode all the time, too."  
  
    James and Remus exchanged excited looks. The three Marauders (being Muggle born had left Peter slightly out of the information loop) had spent a better part of the summer trying to figure out why it had been the McGonagalls.   
  
    Rebecca, though, just shook her head, "They need a better way to work this stuff out. I mean, there hasn't been another killing since June. And there's no proof it was him, you know? Maybe it was a fluke and Mrs. Watts is wrong."  
  
    Looking up slowly, Tessa replied shakily, "I really hope she is, Becca. I really hope she is."   


~~*~~

  
    "What was that all about?" Remus mused, looking at the other three Marauders.   
  
    Before they had a chance to reply, Frank Longbottom had slumped into a chair right across from them. "Have I ever mentioned that girls are insane? Because I really, truly believe that they are."  
  
    "That Alice of yours has some mouth on her," Sirius commented, the corners of his lips quirking up.   
  
    Frank went red, "She's not mine."  
  
    "Mmhmm," Remus muttered in a disbelieving tone. "I'm sure she's not Frank. Do you know what that was all about?"  
  
    "Oi vey," Frank murmured. "Some sort of disagreement. Didn't get it all… I know it involves something about that rooster incident in Charms class and Lily and Melissa being abnormally strung out, although for Lily that doesn't seem odd."   
  
    James snorted.   
  
    Frank shrugged and sighed and then looked under the table with a confused glance. He disappeared below for a second and when he righted himself, he was holding a brown orb.   
  
    "I was wondering where my Charms text went," Peter exclaimed, reaching for the coconut and then passing it on to James.   
  
    Frank shook his head at the two boys, stood up and retreated into the dormitory.   
  
    "Like he's never seen a textbook turned into a coconut before," Sirius scoffed with a bit of a grin.   
  
    "It's not really an everyday occurrence, Sirius," Remus observed.  
  
    "Nothing here is an everyday occurrence, Remus," Peter replied, grinning at James as he handed him back his book. "Anyway, I've got to go and return some of these to the library. Madame Pince is still in a foul mood about that book I blew up last term."  
  
    Gathering up his books, Peter tossed a sheepish grin over his shoulder and left the other three to work on their homework. After depositing the library books into the hands of Madame Pince, who did indeed give him a challenging glare, he turned to go back to the Tower.   
  
    "Hey Peter, I hate to admit it, but I think you were right about that broom closet."   
  
    Peter turned towards the voice and grinned. "Hello Mel."  
  
    She grinned back.   
  
    "How'd you figure it out?"   
  
    She looked at him appraisingly, "Up for a bit of a run?"  
  
    "Excuse me?"  
  
    "I figured out the pattern it runs on. _However_, with a bit of experimenting, I came to the conclusion that while it does run on a particular pattern, it can deviate from it when it deems necessary."   
  
    "The _closet_ deems deviating from its pattern necessary? That sounds mathematical," Peter grumbled.   
  
    "Yeah, I suspect if I knew more arithmancy, I could figure out the pattern and how to forcefully deviate it, but… I rather like it the way it is now. So, are we running then?" She grinned mischievously. "Come on, I've _forever_ of detentions coming up… I might as well do _something_, even as small as running in the corridors, to earn it."   
  
    "Well… alright. Where to then?" Peter looked around and thought that Remus would've made a far better running partner for her.   
  
    "Right around the corner. This is one of its regular stops, we can pick up that pattern from there," Melissa started off briskly around the corner.   
  
    The two waited patiently in front of an area of wall for a few minutes until a wooden door appeared slightly to their right.   
  
    "Come on," Melissa said, and started to run towards the Entrance Hall.   
  
    Nearly two hours later, both Gryffindors were thoroughly winded and standing near where both suspected the Ravenclaw Common Room was.   
  
    "Thanks, Peter," Melissa huffed, her hands on her knees.  
  
    "For what? Thank _you_. It really helps that I understand that thing," Peter wheezed back at her.   
  
    "I was kind of annoyed when we met up before. All this running helped." She straightened and pulled her knee socks up, grinning at him. "I'll race you to the Common Room."  
  
    Peter's face mangled into one of horror and exhaustion immediately and she burst out laughing.   
  
    "I was kidding, Peter. Kidding."   
  
    Peter rolled his eyes, but allowed a relieved grin to appear on his face and with that the two Gryffindor Second Year's leisurely strolled back to the Common Room.  


~~*~~

  
    "Let me get this straight," Sirius sighed. "You've spent nearly six months working on a single closet? One closet? And you still haven't mapped out even just one floor of the castle?"   
  
    He was hovering over Peter, who'd just sketched out the pattern the broom closet tended to follow.   
  
    "Er… yes?" Peter looked up cautiously.   
  
    "How do you ever expect us to map the entire castle by the time we graduate then?"   
  
    "Well, if it bothers you so much, why don't _you_ try to do some of the mapping?" Peter sighed and tossed down his quill. "Anyway, I've got to go meet Remus down at Hagrid's Hut, we've got detention."  
  
    "Excuse me?" Sirius asked, amused. "And what did you two barmy old codger's get up to?"   
  
    Peter glared at him. "Actually, nothing. It seems _someone_ felt that the hedgehogs in Transfiguration needed to 'feel the fresh clean air as _free_ hedgehogs'… that is, if I recall your words correctly."  
  
    "McGonagall collared the two of _you_ for that one? I was sure she'd grab that Hufflepuff? You know, the one with the really light blonde hair? She's always going on about cruelty to animals or some such nonsense," Sirius chuckled.   
  
    "Remus and I were discussing your latest act of stupidity, Umbridge overheard us and ran to tell McGonagall. That hag," Peter made a face.   
  
    "McGonagall or Umbridge?"   
  
    "Umbridge? Ugh. What in the name of Merlin are you two discussing?" James had entered the room and was now crossing over to sit on Peter's bed.   
  
    "Nothing, I've got to go," Peter replied crossly and exited quickly.   
  
    "What's under his skin?" James asked, sprawling out across his friend's bed, his head on Peter's pillow.   
  
    Sirius followed suit, kicking off his shoes and lying across from his friend, propping up his feet next to James's head.   
  
    "The hedgehogs."  
  
    "Don't tell me he actually cares about the hedgehogs?"  
  
    "Nah, he and Remus got stuck with my detention for it."   
  
    "Do you _ever_ get caught?"   
  
    "Quite often, but you should know that as you're often with me."   
  
    "That I am, hey look at this! I got the third one down!" James brandished his wand and managed to change the glass of water on Peter's night stand into a bird and then back into a glass of water.   
  
    "Nice," Sirius nodded approvingly. "Peter figured out some route of some closet for the map."   
  
    "Did he? He's been working on it for quite a bit. Oh, I meant to tell you two, there's another passageway to Hogsmeade."  
  
    Sirius sat up, looking excited. "Really? Where?"  
  
    "Under the Whomping Willow," James replied calmly.   
  
    The other boy sank back into the bed, "Fat chance of getting under that thing alive."  
  
    "Actually, it's quite simple if you know where to poke, which Remus does."  
  
    "What?" Sirius shot back up. "How does he know?"  
  
    "It's where he goes to change," James told his friend.   
  
    "To Hogsmeade? That can't be safe… is he alright there? Where does he go?" Sirius looked concerned as he mulled over these points.   
  
    "To the Shrieking Shack," James replied.   
  
    "Excuse me? They put him in the most severely haunted dwelling in all of Britian? No, I think we need to have a word with Dumbledore, James, really," Sirius had jumped up midway and begun pacing.   
  
    _He's insane_, James thought with a smile. _Four months ago, he was ready to chuck Remus to the curb and now he wants to fight with Dumbledore over werewolf rights._  
  
    "You know, Seer. I'm pretty sure this isn't such a bad arrangement… besides the fact that Remus told me that the reason it's considered the most haunted dwelling is because of him."   
  
    "_He's_ the one making all that noise?" Sirius asked, his face falling. He paused for a moment, "Do you… I mean… it's a horrid noise… do you think it's that painful? The change and all for him? I never really thought about it."   
  
    The realization hit James like a ton of bricks as he suddenly realized he'd never thought too much about it either. "I… I guess it is that bad then." He winced.   
  
    Sirius also winced and the two boys sat and stood in silence for a long moment.  
  
    "Alright then, Potter… show me how to turn that ruddy glass of water into a bloody bird."   
  
    James broke into a mild grin, "Language, Mr. Black."   
  
    "Oh, shut up, Alice."   
  
    James chuckled and the two boys passed the rest of the evening learning the third and fourth primer spells for animagus transfigurations.   


~~*~~

  
    "_What_ the bloody hell was that?" A very angry Remus Lupin growled as he pulled his bed covers over his head.   
  
    "Huh?" Peter, sounding as awake as Remus felt, muttered.   
  
    Remus heard rustling from across the room as someone pulled their curtains back.   
  
    "A rooster?" A thoroughly bewildered Frank Longbottom asked.   
  
    "A rooster," James Potter confirmed, although he sounded as perplexed as Frank.  
  
    Remus listened as the thud of someone's footsteps echoed across the room.   
  
    "What the bloody hell is all…" Sirius trailed off. "Sweet Merlin…" Then he burst into laugher, as the rooster continued to crow.   
  
    The other four boys slowly stuck their heads out of the feet of their beds to look into the dormitory. Sirius Black was standing about a foot away from his bed, peering intently at his hand and then at the room around him.   
  
    "This must've taken them _hours_," he murmured.   
  
    "Who? What? Huh?" Peter looked even more confused.   
  
    "Oh, whatever the hell it is, just get rid of that rooster, Sirius. We can deal with the rest _later_," Remus growled again, beginning to curl back into bed.  
  
    "There's _honey_ in my slippers," James muttered in disgust. "And… my wand… covered. What the hell?"   
  
    Sirius burst into laughter. In between gasps of air, Remus managed to make out, "Whole… bloody… dorm… covered… mate…"   
  
    With this, Remus pulled open his curtain violently and shoved his feet into his slippers as he stood up.   
  
    "Oh ew…" he muttered as his feet were covered in the mushy, sticky substance. "Pete, don't put your feet-" he managed to mumble before he heard Peter.   
  
    "Honey? In my slippers?" Peter sounded very confused.   
  
    Remus shook his head slightly.   
  
    Remus grabbed onto part of his bed to steady himself and found his hand covered in the same mushy, sticky substance. He recoiled and, unsure of what to do, licked his hand.  
  
    "I'm going to assume," Frank said groggily. "That this has something to do with the four of you… so I'm going back to sleep. G'night."  
  
    The rooster crowed again.   
  
    "And shut that bloody thing up, would you?"  
  
    James, Sirius, Remus and Peter all looked at one another, then at the rooster, then back to one another.   
  
    Suddenly, Sirius's face lit up in recognition, "The _girls_!"   
  
    The other three boys immediately recalled the stockpiling of the honey. James looked around the room, appearing faintly impressed.   
  
    "Our dorm is covered in honey," he said stupidly.   
  
    "Yes, I think we've figured that out, James," Remus replied dryly.   
  
    The rooster began to crow, but Remus cut him off in the middle of a particularly loud go. "_Silencio_."   
  
    "Good one, Remmy," Sirius replied. "Any ideas about the honey?"   
  
    Remus shook his head and glanced at the other two. Peter quickly shook his head but James hesitated and then pointed his wand at a patch of the floor.   
  
    "_Scourgify_." A small portion of the wood appeared, clean and shiny. "Oh Merlin, this'll take us until breakfast to clean," he moaned. "If only the ruddy spell were stronger."   
  
    Remus shrugged, "Well, we'd best get started. Frank was right, if this was the girls, it's our fault." He trudged to the other side of the room to begin cleaning it, pausing to pull at his slipper twice when it got stuck.   
  
    "But then it's not your fault either, Remus," James said, trudging over to a different area. "You weren't there."   
  
    Remus just shrugged again and pointed his wand, "_Scourgify_." He managed to clear a space about the same size as James.   
  
    Shortly, all four boys became engrossed in cleaning off patch after patch of floor as Frank snored from his bed. The boys were finishing up the bathroom, where the girls had managed to completely fill the sinks and the toilets with honey, when the sun just began to peek through the windows.   
  
    "Alright, we need to come up with a revenge strategy," Sirius said, as he finished up the last sink.   
  
    "No, no, no. No more crack of dawn roosters thank you very much," Remus muttered as he crossed the room. "I'm going back to bed. Wake me on Monday."   
  
    "Does he really plan to sleep away the entire weekend?" Peter asked, looking at his friend.   


~~*~~

  
    "Do we need to clear out the bathroom for you, Jamesy boy?" Sirius chuckled, a bit later that morning.   
  
    Remus growled incoherently from his bed, but Franks sat straight up.   
  
    "Slytherin today, isn't it? If you lot win, we'll have a chance at the Quidditch Cup."  
  
    James glanced over at Frank as though to say 'thanks for the reminder'.  
  
    Frank smirked, "But no pressure, mate."   
  
    James rolled his eyes, "I'm fine. I'm going down to meet with the team for breakfast. See you all out at the stadium."   
  
    "Knock 'em dead, Potter," Frank called out.  
  
    "Especially before _they_ knock _you_ dead, they are Slytherins after all," Remus advised groggily.   
  
    James chuckled, tossed his broom over his shoulder and headed down to the Great Hall. When he entered, he could see most of his own team down at the far end of the Gryffindor table and noticed several of the Slytherin team members sitting closer to the doorway to the Great Hall. He walked past them to sit with his teammates.   
  
    "Where are Em and Marlene?" he yawned as he put his broomstick in the middle of the table next to Beamish's.   
  
    "Overslept. I imagine they're being rudely awakened by the lovely Ms. Bell as we speak," Alan replied. "Now if Peter would just calm down and let us sleep in on days when there are matches…"   
  
    Peter Bell cut him off, "Can it, Beamish, or next match we'll get up at four to practice."   
  
    "Provided we make it to the finals. We've _got_ to beat Slytherin today to do that. Have you seen their new beaters? A couple of human bludgers themselves!"   
  
    James craned his neck to look at the Slytherin team and then burst into laughter, "Crabbe and Goyle? They've got the combined intellect of a dead niffler. We're going to be fine."   
  
    "Well, let's just cross our fingers and hope for the best," Emmaline Vance muttered as she slid into the spot next to James, plopping her broom down in front of her.   
  
    Peter narrowed his eyes, "Vance, tell me you did _not_ just quote the motto of a team that hasn't won a victory in nearly eighty years."   
  
    Emmaline rolled her eyes right back at him, "It's a decent motto."   
  
    "No, it's not. If we're quoting Cannons, the motto _we'll_ live by is 'we shall conquer', understand?" Peter was beginning to turn red and rave. The entire team realized it would be far more beneficial for all involved if they could curtail his ramblings until they reached the locker room.   
  
    "Oh course it is, Peter," Margaret replied quickly.   
  
    "Although, let's just cross our fingers and conquer kind of has a ring to it," James smirked. Marlene tossed a roll at his head.   
  
    "It's too early for your mouth, Potter. I don't know how your dorm mates stand it."   
  
    James looked up in time to see Peter staring at him, "Sweet Merlin, Peter, what? I was just kidding. We will conquer, alright?"   
  
    "Eat, Potter."   
  
    "I'm not hungry."   
  
    "I assure you, you don't want me to forcefully cram this toast and jam down your throat."   
  
    James eyes widened for a moment as he realized his captain was serious.   
  
    "Who knows how long this match could go on, you need nourishment. Now."   
  
    James opened his mouth to protest, but Rebecca cut him off quietly, handing him a piece of bread. "Shred it and eat a few bites, then put the rest of the shreds on the sausage plate. He never notices when I do that," she whispered under her breath.   
  
    James shot her a grateful smile and proceeded to follow her directions. Most mornings before a match, the team was very quiet, but today was a bit different. Although Marlene and Emmaline were yawning and trying not to fall asleep in their porridge, which was rather normal as neither one was a morning person until they were flying through the air up on their brooms, Margaret, Alan and Peter were deep in tactical conversation and even Henry Wood and Nathan McDonald were discussing strategy.   
  
    "Ready, Potter?" Rebecca asked him as she glanced at her watch.   
  
    "Almost time, is it then?" he replied, his eyes moving towards her watch.   
  
    She nodded and grinned, he grinned back and sure enough, a moment later, Bell told them all to gather up their brooms and head out to the equipment shed.   
  
    The nine Gryffindors trooped out of the Great Hall and over to the Quidditch Stadium.   
  
    "We've got half an hour until we have to give Slytherin the field to warm up," Bell shouted at them. "Let's make the most of it! Everyone on your brooms."   
  
    The nine went through the paces and before they knew it, time was up and they were sitting in the locker preparing for Bell's pre-game speech.   
  
    "We all know that Slytherin plays dirty, so be prepared," he spoke in calm, even tones, that managed to unnerve the team more than his usual screaming did. "They've got two new beaters this year, big oafs it seems. They always did go for bulk over skill, but that said, McKinnon, Vance, be on your guard, they'll do anything to knock you clear off your brooms and they are three times your size. Vindictus has a tendency to resort to skinning when things aren't going his way, so watch out for that Chasers. Beamish, you've got to watch out for haversacking. Bode and Avery try it every game and they rarely get caught." He whirled and faced the two reserves. "And you lot, be prepared to go in at any moment, the Slytherin's won't think twice about putting any of us in the Hospital Wing for a week if it means they'll get their ten points." His voice began to raise and his normal manic pitch returned, "We will win, because we're the better team. We've got three of the greatest Chasers in the history of Hogwarts, a smashing Keeper and a pair of Beaters who are human bludgers themselves!" He dropped his tone for a second, "And I do mean that in the nicest way, ladies." Then he returned to his fevered pitch. "We need to edge them out by at least twenty points, understood? _The Cup is riding on this game_! Don't let me down. We will either win, or die trying." He paused and took a deep breath.  
  
    The rest of the team was sitting back, taking this all in calmly. After their first Bell pep-talk, they were accustomed to bouts of insanity and death threats that usually preceded a game.   
  
    "Well, what are you waiting for? Get out there," he yelled. The team scrambled for their broom and prepared to walk out onto the pitch.   
  
    Waiting just inside the corridor leading out to the field, the team waited for their names to be announced, as Slytherin was being called out at the moment. James chanced a look over at Emmaline who gave him a cheeky smile and crossed her fingers, hoping for the best, he assumed. He grinned back and crossed his fingers in return. Marlene caught on and did the same, with a similar cheeky grin.   
  
    "And now, a roar of a welcome for the Gryffindor Lion's Quidditch Team! Beamish, Vance, McKinnon, Potter, Bell, Longbottom, and their captain Peter Bell. In reserve, we've got Beater Henry Wood and Keeper Nathan McDonald."   
  
    The nine Gryffindors exchanged final glances of nerves and grins and then rushed out onto the pitch to the deafening roars of the Gryffindor House, along with Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.   
  
    "Madame Hooch walks out onto the pitch and… there goes the Snitch. Bell and Vindictus step forwards to shake hands. I certainly hope you've got some good soap back in your dorm Bell."   
  
    "Chubb!"   
  
    "Right, sorry Professor. Anyway, the players are all mounting their brooms and their up. And there's the Quaffle! The game has begun. Bode is in possession, he passes to Vindictus who drops- oh sweet Merlin, that was a perfect Porskoff Play, fantastic! Avery is in possession, closing in on the Gryffindor goal posts and- Better luck next time, Beamish. Slytherin scores the first goal of the game and the score is now ten, nothing Slytherin."   
  
    James shot forwards to catch intercept the Quaffle from between Avery and Bode and glanced around to find Rebecca and Margaret. The two were set up to try the Hawkshead Attacking Formation, but Goyle was in his way. A moment later, James burst into a grin as he saw Emmaline smash the Bludger right at Goyle, who wasn't paying attention. The heavy iron ball smashed into his stomach and nearly knocked him off his broom, leaving a spot for James to drop into position for complete the formation. The three Chasers shot down the field to the Slytherin goal posts and as the last moment hurled the ball to Rebecca, who shot it effortlessly through the hoop.   
  
    "Longbottom scores and the teams are now tied!"   
  
    James burst into laughter as he heard Frank's voice scream from the stands, "That's my sister!" He glanced over and saw Rebecca beaming with pride and raised a hand with his fingers crossed to her. She laughed and flew off after Vindictus. A Bludger sailed his way, causing him to roll on his broom. He dropped the Quaffle and Rebecca grabbed it, tossing it to James who managed to shoot it right past Derrick Zabini in the goal.   
  
    A moment later, James felt a heavy object slam into his back and he nearly somersaulted off his broom. Marlene and Emmaline both shot over to him, Marlene sending the Bludger flying back from whence it came, and Emmaline grabbing onto his to keep him on his broom.   
  
    "Alright then, Potter?" she yelled.   
  
    He winced and rubbed his back, "Alright then, Vance. Go."   
  
    She nodded and was off again before he could blink. Before he had much of a chance to recover, Margaret sent the Quaffle flying his way. He caught it, tucked it under his arm and set off, flying straight at the Slytherin Keeper. He feinted at the last moment and scored through the left ring.   
  
    "Bode's in possession and he's heading straight for the Gryffindor Keeper. Come on, Beamish, don't be such a ninny, catch the bloody thing!"   
  
    "CHUBB!"  
  
    "Right, sorry Profes- YES! Beamish made the save. The Quaffle's back in play and Avery has it, he's passed to Vindictus, who's passed it back to Bode, he shoots- There's a whistle. Madame Hooch is calling a foul. Good eye, Madame! Bode is called on haversacking. Penalty shot to Gryffindor, Potter's taking it. He lines up, shoots and it's fifty- ten Gryffindor!"   
  
    The stands erupted and the other three houses easily managed to drown out the boo's from Slytherin.   
  
    James took a moment to glance through the crowd and quickly found Sirius, Remus and Peter sitting in the stands with Frank. Well, not necessarily sitting. Frank and Sirius were pressed up against the front of the box a hair's inch from toppling right out as they screamed insults at the Slytherin team and encouragements to the Gryffindors. Peter was seated and watching half heartedly and James had to bite back a laugh when he realized that Remus was reading a book. He was shocked back into reality when a Bludger whizzed past his head.   
  
    "Oi, Potter," Bell screamed down at him. "Keep your head in the game!"   
  
    James reddened and shot off after Margaret and Rebecca who were volleying the Quaffel back and forth, attempting to get past the Slytherin Chasers. He saw Margaret suddenly drop the ball and grab onto her broom handle with both hands. A whistle quickly followed.   
  
    "Penalty shot to Bell for blagging. That'll teach you to touch a ladies broom without permission Crabbe," Agatha Chubb crowed from the announcer's box.   
  
    "Sixty- ten Gryffindor! Fantastic job, Bell, not that Zabini could stop that Quaffle even if it had an Impedimentia Curse on it to slow it down."  
  
    "Chubb!"   
  
    "Sorry, Professor."   
  
    "Young lady, if you intend to keep this job, then you'll have to shape up, you can't insult the players, you need to respect- WHAT IS HE DOING?!? Are you blind, Hooch? He was clearly cobbing, that slimey, little-"  
  
    "Exactly, Professor," the entire stadium could hear the laughter in Agatha's voice as they chuckled. "Another goal by Longbottom, seventy- ten, Gryffindor."   
  
    James happened to turn back to look at Emmaline just in time to see Goyle and Crabbe hit the Bludger at the same time, with all their force, and watched as it smashed directly into the back of her head. She tumbled forward off her broom and was probably unconscious before she even started to fall. As she plummeted to the ground, he could the blood pouring out of the wound in the back of her head. He was so shocked he didn't move. Fortunately, Peter Bell noticed a moment after him and dove, nearly vertical to the ground, to grab her before she smashed into the grass below. A time out was called as Madame Pomfrey rushed onto the field as magicked Emmaline off the field and into the castle. A moment later, the rest of the team landed.   
  
    Marlene looked paler than Sir Nicholas and Rebecca and Margaret both put their arms around her.   
  
    "Grab your broom, Wood," Bell managed through clenched teeth. His eyes following the path Madame Pomfrey and Emmaline were making towards the castle.   
  
    He looked each of them in the eye, "We're going to win this."   
  
    "Yes, Peter," Rebecca quickly agreed, the rest of the team following suite.   
  
    "They're playing dirty, but we're better. We'll beat them, and we'll beat them fair."   
  
    Overhead, James could head Agatha announcing, "Gryffindor Beater Emmaline Vance has been escorted off the field by Madame Pomfrey. Gryffindor will receive three penalty shots and the Slytherin Beaters have a ten minutes time out. And it looks like the time out is over. In for Vance is Henry Wood, new to the team this year, he's got an impressive record to live up to, his brother Hampton Wood was captain for three years until he graduated four years ago."   
  
    James kicked off and was soon up in the air with a new determination. Within ten minutes, Rebecca, Margaret and he managed to score six goals. By the time Crabbe and Goyle returned to the air, Gryffindor was in the lead one hundred and thirty to ten.   
  
    "What's this? Bell has seen the Snitch! He's shooting off towards the Slytherin goal posts and, what's this, no! It can't be! Zabini just snitchnipped! Penalty to Gryffindor. Bell takes the Quaffle. One hundred and forty to ten, Gryffindor!"   
  
    The crowd screamed with anger and James was certain he recognized the voice behind several choice words to be Sirius Black. He chanced a glance over at his friends again and his suspicion was verified. Frank looked just as red and angry as Sirius, even Peter was sitting forward in his seat. Remus was still engrossed in whatever he was reading. _Reading! During this match?_ James thought. _And it really is some match. Dad's going to love the play by play of this one when I write home!_  
  
    James's eyes scanned for the Quaffle and he found it in Avery's hands. He shot after them, but the three Slytherin Chaser's reached the Gryffindor goal posts first. James heard Alan gasp as the Slytherin's stooged him. Bode and Vindictus knocked him so hard he flew right off his broom, as Avery shot the Quaffle in. James watched horrified as Alan plummeted to the ground and he could've sworn he heard the crack of bones when the Fourth Year boy landed.   
  
    A general outcry came from the Gryffindor section, quickly joined by the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws.   
  
    "Bloody hell!" Chubb exclaimed and for once Professor Sprout let her be. "Stooging! Another time out's been called, but Beamish still seems to be conscious. Gryffindor receives another penalty shot and, oh, it looks like Beamish is out of the game. Madame Pince seems to be helping him towards the castle. His reserve, Nathan McDonald, joins the team as they return to the air."   
  
    James received the Quaffle from Margaret and tossed it to Rebecca, where it was intercepted by Bode.   
  
    "Jenkins is off, he's spotted the snitch! Sweet Merlin, Bell, catch up, you can't let Slytherin win!"   
  
    "Chubb! Impartiality, how many times have I told-"  
  
    "Sorry, Profes- _Jenkins has the snitch_! The match is over. Gryffindor- one hundred and forty points. Slythering- one hundred and sixty." An audible groan came over the announcements. "Slytherin wins and is now in first place for the Quidditch Cup. But with Hufflepuff right on their tails, I might add. Now there's a game I'm looking forward to. Good afternoon everyone, this is Agatha Chubb, Quidditch announcer extraordinaire, signing off.   
    _Author's Note: I'm having an absolutely insane time at the moment with my computer and I can't get my stupid pc to copy and paste, so until I can figure out how to fix that it may be quite a while until the next chapter is up, **but** I've actually completely finished the thing, (well, except for a tiny little bit at the end, but they're already back at King's Cross, that's how far I've written) so I promise it will **eventually** all go up. Thanks for being patient!_


	11. The Lupins

  
  
  


**The Lupins**

  
  
  
    Before James even had a chance to get off the field, Sirius, Peter and Remus were down there.   
  
     "It could've been worse," Remus offered.   
  
     "You were reading the whole time," James offered dejectedly.   
  
     "Yes, but I was listening to Agatha. The Chasers did very well, and Slytherin played a nasty game."   
  
     "Nasty game?" Sirius raged. "Those bloody slimey gits. Every one of them is a son of a sea dragon-"  
  
     "With scale rot," Peter interjected.   
  
     "Yes, with scale rot," Sirius continued to rage as the four made their way to the castle.   
  
     "I should go with the rest of the team to visit Vance and Beamish," James told the others. "I'll catch up with you later."   
  
     "Alright, James," Remus replied as they headed their separate ways. "See you at dinner then."  


~~*~~

  
    Several days later, Remus had just trudged through the portrait hole when he noticed James sitting in an armchair staring blankly out the window.   
  
     "Sweet Merlin, mate, you do realize it's not yet eight in the morning? I thought you finished that bloody Potions essay while the three of us were in detention…" Remus glanced carefully at his friend and suddenly realized that something was wrong. Very wrong.   
  
     "James? What… what happened?"   
  
    Remus sat down next to him and watched, amazed, as James took a deep hitching breath as though steadying himself and then looked at his friend. James noticed the _Daily Prophet_ sitting in his lap.  
  
     "McGonagall is looking for you, Remus," James said in a voice below a whisper.   
  
     "I haven't done anything lately. Why's she looking for me?" Remus asked, confused.   
  
    He saw James wince and then avert his gaze back out the window. James took another deep breath and turned to look at Remus. He opened his mouth, looking as though the words were trying to gag him.   
  
    Abruptly Remus's insides began to churn and the room began to feel to warm and cold at the same time. "What, James? It can't be that bad, can it?" He pleaded, begging his friend to tell him something stupid and mundane, for his expression of sadness to be part of some terrible joke that they would laugh about in years to come.   
  
    James shook his head apologetically and handed the _Daily Prophet_ to Remus.   
  
    Remus held the paper, trying to stop his hands from unfolding it but failing.   
  


**Bizarre Circumstances Surrounding the Voldemort Case  
Laurence Lupin and Wife Found Dead  
A Dark Mark Found in the Air**  
  
Early this morning, Laurence and Loretta Lupin were found  
dead in their home. Floating above the house was a dark mark  
similar to the one seen last June above the McGonagall residence.   
A neighbor reports seeing six men dressed in dark hooded robes  
around the town pub earlier that night, discussing Laurence Lupin.   
It has recently come to light that Mr. Lupin replaced Consus   
McGonagall as head of the Voldemort project following his death. 

  
  
    Remus didn't even recall dropping the paper, or hearing it flutter to the ground, but he could clearly remember James bending down to fold it correctly and place it on the table across from them.   
  
    Remus eyes slid out of focus and he stared blindly at the wall.   
  
     "So… they're dead, then?" Remus repeated aloud, more to himself than to James. Somehow, this was still not sinking in. They'd been alive yesterday. Remus's eyes cleared a bit and he gazed pleadingly at James.   
  
    A barely perceptible nod from James shattered his hopes. Somehow, the newspaper had been unsuccessful in conveying the horrid truth; James small acknowledgement slammed it home.   
  
    Remus shook violently for a long moment and then stood up and headed for the portrait hole so quickly he caught James off guard. Before the brown haired boy even had a chance to blink, his friend was gone.   


~~*~~

  
     "Get up, oh get up, Black!" James moaned, poking at his friend roughly.   
  
    Something about the raw sound of James's voice quickly jolted Sirius from his slumber.   
  
     "WazzitJamesy?" He mumbled as he sat up as quickly as his sleep befuddled body would allow.   
  
     "It's Remus. Get _up_," James said, poking him one last time before heading over to Peter's bed. "Pete, Peter, get up now." He jostled his other friend.   
  
     "I'm up, I'm up. What's wrong with Remus?" Peter yawned and stretched.   
  
     "His parents were killed last night, he ran out of the Common Room. We need to find him," James said.   
  
     "Excuse me?" Peter mumbled groggily.   
  
     "Wait a second," Sirius said, jumping out of bed now. "Mr. and Mrs. Lupin are… dead? That's impossible."   
  
    James laughed bitterly. It would've been so much funnier if he hadn't been having similar thoughts all morning.   
  
    Without another word, James ran from the room, Peter and Sirius quick on his heels. The two boys followed the one in the lead as he shot through the corridors until he reached the library and even then he continued to weave through the stacks with a manic sort of determination. He reached the Healing Potions section and the other two boys caught on. Sure enough, as soon as they slipped into the hidden passageway, they heard Remus's voice talking to himself from farther down the dark corridor.   
  
     "She sang to me the song about Nifty Nifflers to put me to bed every night for four years and then when I was five she burst into tears when I told her I was all grown up and didn't want her to sing me to sleep anymore..."   
  
     "He took me to the Ministry with him and I actually got to look in the Department of Mysteries. He looked so proud when he took me around…" A bitter laugh. "Only time he pretended to be proud of me…"  
  
     "They baked me a cake when I got my Hogwarts letter. They did it. He was even proud of me that day…"   
  
    There was a moment of silence as the three boys looked from one face to another, each showing clear signs of heartbreak for their friend. Even Remus stopped talking for a moment and they could hear his ragged breaths, as though fighting back tears.   
  
     "I'm an _orphan_." There was a distinct sound of someone hitting or kicking the wall very hard and the boys rounded the final corner separating them from Remus as the tall boy with his normally neat brown hair in disarray, looking younger than any of them had ever seen him, burst into tears.   
  
    Without a single word, James walked over, slumped down next to his friend and pulled him into a hug. Sirius quickly followed, sitting down on the other side of Remus and putting his arms around both Remus and James, sniffling slightly himself. Peter stayed where he was for a long moment and then slid over beside Sirius, stretching out his arm to pat Remus on the back and the three boys sat for a very long time, comforting their friend as he cried tears that seemed as though they would never end.   


~~*~~

  
    Later that evening, a very tired Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew stumbled into the Great Hall. James was up in the Tower helping Remus pack and get out to the carriage that would bring him to Hogsmeade.   
  
    Sirius nearly jumped out of his skin as he felt a finger tap at his shoulder, trying to get his attention. When he turned around, his eyes widened.   
  
     "Is… Is Remus okay?" Lily Evans asked in a very subdued voice.   
  
     "No…" Sirius trailed off, shaking his head. After the three boys had found Remus crying in the morning, he'd nearly stopped talking entirely. When Professor McGonagall had shown up and said she needed to speak with him privately, the only thing he'd managed to say was 'you might as well speak in front of them, they're the only family I've really got now, aren't they?'. The older woman had winced but told Remus what he already knew in front of all four of them. Remus hadn't cried again since that breakdown, instead he'd lapsed into that strange silence. "He's going home now, to his grandparent's house. He's going to stay with them through the Easter holiday and then come back."   
  
     "Oh…" her voice trailed away. "Well, I hope that… he'll be okay eventually." She had already begun to walk away when Peter called out to her quietly.   
  
     "Eventually, he will be."   
  
    He saw her pause as her head nodded slightly in acknowledgement of his statement and then she walked back down to her friends.   


~~*~~

  
     "Hey Tessa, what are you doing?"   
  
    The five girls looked up as they two boys came into the Common Room. Easter holiday had begun three days ago and things had been unusually quiet from the Marauder front, primarily owing to the fact that Remus was still with his grandparents and a last minute decision by Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore had resulted in James going with him.   
  
    The arrangement had slightly upset Peter and Sirius, but Peter was able to see that it was a good thing that _any_ of them had been permitted to go with Remus.   
  
     "Er… nothing. Nevermind."   
  
    Sirius saw her slip a deck of cards that looked suspiciously like a Veritaserum deck behind her back. This was confirmed by Melissa's roll of her eyes and Becca's grin of relief.   
  
     "So how are you lot? Lily-" She stopped to glare at the person in question. "-never lets us talk to you anymore."   
  
     "No fraternizing with the enemy, isn't that it, Lil?" Alice asked sweetly.   
  
     "We're the enemy?" Peter asked, slightly puzzled.   
  
     "Uh, well… no," Lily stammered, slightly red. "It's just that, well… you're Potter's friends and well, he _is_ the enemy."   
  
     "But we're not James," Peter said.   
  
     "I know that," she replied crossly and then hesitated. "Fine, fine. You're right. Want to sit down?" She gestured at two open chairs.   
  
     "So what were you guys doing?" Peter asked, settling himself in the chair next to Lily.   
  
    Sirius sat down next to Melissa.   
  
     "Veritaserum," Rebecca volunteered. "But there is absolutely no way we're going to play that now."   
  
     "Agreed," Tessa said, glancing over at both of the boys. "I can read your palms though." Melissa and Rebecca groaned while Alice and Lily laughed.   
  
     "Read our palms?" Peter asked, looking down blankly at his own.   
  
     "Don't even get her started," Rebecca moaned.   
  
     "She found some old Divination book in the library. We don't even have Divination here," Lily told the boys.   
  
     "Thank Merlin," Melissa added. "She's not very good at it. Kept telling me my life line was split in half and begged me to drink some tea so she could work with the leaves."   
  
     "Oh, or we could do that," Tessa said, bouncing excitedly in her seat. "We could all drink tea. Oh, Alice _please_ go nip down to the kitchens and get us some tea and tea cups? Come on Becca… you know you love sneaking down there." She looked pleadingly at her friends, who both sighed but started to get up and head towards the portrait hole. "Thank you _sooo_ much guys. I'll go get the book." She was gone before any of the others could blink, sprinting up the steps.   
  
     "Amazing. You just about have to hold a wand to her head to get her to study, but she'll spend hours reading that idiotic Divination book," Lily muttered, shaking her head.   
  
    Melissa chuckled, "Do you think we can escape?"   
  
     "Escape?" Sirius piped up. "Is it that bad?"   
  
    Melissa and Lily spoke in unison. "Yes."   
  
    Tessa nearly tumbled over her own legs as she raced back to the couch she was sitting on. "Well, aren't they back yet?"   
  
     "Are you mad? They left a minute before you did. It'll probably be another ten minutes before they're back," Melissa said, looking at her best friend as though she were insane.   
  
     "Alright then, can I read your palms until then?" Tessa asked Sirius and Peter. Without waiting for an answer, she grabbed Sirius's palm. "Left handed, right?"   
  
     "Right," he muttered, pulling back left hand and cautiously offering his left.   
  
     "Oh, sorry," Tessa grinned at him. "Let's see…" She peered down at his hand. "Well, your heart line is deep and close to your fingers, that means… something. I'll look it all up at the end. Oh, and it's chained, that's something else. Oh." She looked sadly at him. "It's broken and irregular… I don't think that's good."   
  
    Sirius looked around worriedly until he noticed Melissa and Lily both biting back laughter. He relaxed a little.   
  
     "Oh, but your head line looks good," Tessa continued on encouragingly. "It's nice and straight, and clear and solid. Hmm, it forks off though." She smiled brightly. "Well, I think that's okay." She paused to write down what she'd just said on a piece of parchment she'd brought down with her. She picked up his hand again. "Your life line is nice and long though, with branched… well, there's one big break, but I think that has a few meanings." She jotted down what she'd just told him and let go of his hand. "Just give me a second to look it all up, alright?"   
  
    She quickly busied herself flipping rapidly through the book.   
  
     "She's going to tell you that you're going to die in two years after being eaten alive by starving flobberworms," Melissa said sarcastically.   
  
     "Or that that your one true love will be killed by angry Quidditch fans," Lily added, shaking her head and fighting off another grin.   
  
     "After the Cannons win the Cup," Melissa added to that. "Which we all know is _sooo_ likely."   
  
     "Well then I figure my true love and I have probably got at least another eighty or so years together," Lily grinned wryly. "Whoever he may be."  
  
     "The poor sap," Melissa commented with a big grin, only to earn herself a pillow to the head.   
  
    Tessa rolled her eyes. "Oh, behave. I'm telling you, this book is useful. It's good to be prepared for the future."  
  
     "How many times do I have to tell you that I'd rather not know?" Melissa asked.   
  
     "You know, I think I agree with Mel on that one," Lily added.   
  
     "Shush," Tessa hissed and then turned to Sirius. "You're intelligent and practical and…" She paused and ran her finger along the lines of the book. "You've got a very good memory. You can make and follow plans."   
  
     "Well who'd of thought a Marauder could make and follow plans. Amazing, isn't it Lily?" Melissa replied.   
  
     "Insane, I know," she said dryly.   
  
    Tessa continued on ignoring them, "You're flexible, but sometimes you have problems with relationships, you know, with your friends and all." She flipped through a few pages and then winced. "It says that sometimes you're jealous and you sometimes give in to feelings of sadness or depression… but overall you're generally optimistic." She paused. "That's odd, that seems like two opposite statements."   
  
     "So maybe that book _doesn't_ know everything?" Melissa offered.   
  
     "Oh hush, Mel," Tessa turned back to the book and shrugged. "Anyway, Sirius… oh, it just says that you're likely to make many changes in the direction of your life because of illnesses. Sounds more like Remus than you, that does." Her face fell for a moment at the thought of Remus. She closed her book and turned towards Peter. "Can I?" she asked him.   
  
     "Er…" Peter pulled his hands closer to his body.   
  
    Just then, the portrait hole opened and Rebecca and Alice came in, giggling madly.   
  
     "You won't _believe_ what we just saw!" Alice huffed, setting down two teacups and the teapot.   
  
     "_I_ still can't believe it," Rebecca said, her giggling trailing off. "They're horrors, they really are."   
  
     "Who?" Lily asked.   
  
     "Port and Zark," Alice said, making a face.   
  
     "Slytherins? What were you doing with Slytherins?" Peter asked, pouring himself a cup of tea.   
  
     "They were standing in the entrance hall, making fun of Trixie. McGonagall, you know. They're just… well, they are horrors, spot on, Becca," Alice said as she settled on the couch next to Tessa.   
  
     "Making fun of her?" Sirius asked, his face beginning to contort.   
  
     "About, well… her parents. That part wasn't funny _at all_," Alice continued. "But then Rob Cage and Rob Davies-"  
  
     "-and my brother," Rebecca cut in, taking up the story. "They overheard and, well, you know, Rob Cage is a Ravenclaw too, so I suppose they thought they had to help her out, so the three of them go rushing over-"  
  
     "-and it's a right good thing too. I think Trixie was getting ready to hex them into next year. She'd been ignoring them right off the bat, but they just wouldn't give up. It was dreadful. I felt so bad for-"  
  
     "Trixie? Hex them into next year? I can't even imagine-" Lily began, but was cut off by Rebecca.   
  
     "-but anyway, we only heard at first, we didn't see. But then we heard Frank's voice and we ran over to see then and Port and Zark are hanging _upside down_ and Peeves, get this, _Peeves_, is tossing water balloons at them singing some nasty limerick about Slytherin girls, how'd that go, Alice? Late at night when we close all the doors-"   
  
     "Becca! _Don't_ repeat that! Anyway, then the Nearly Headless Nick and the Bloody Baron float by, they were talking, you see, and they saw what was happening, so Sir Nick, of course, tells the boys to put Port and Zark down. And the Bloody Baron gets rid of Peeves, because of course, that monster will only listen to him-"  
  
     "-oh who cares about that part, Becca, the main thing is, the boys flat out _dropped_ Port and Zark and Nick laughed. _He laughed_. Oh, he tried not to, but he couldn't help it. Trixie looked like she could happily die laughing too. And Port and Zark had looked so scandalized by that limerick of Peeves, but I can see why. Anyway, the Bloody Baron told Nick to get his students to behave and he said it in a very threatening way-"  
  
     "-but Nick just says, 'I believe young Mr. Longbottom here is the only one of my students. You'd have to take it up with the Fat Friar and the Grey Lady involving the other two, according to their uniforms', or something along that line and at that moment, the other two House ghosts showed up-"  
  
     "-oh goodness, Sir Nick and the Grey Lady and the Fat Friar all started yelling at the Bloody Baron, and he just started looking scarier and scarier… well, the two of us ran up the stairs at the point. We saw Frank and the Rob's take off towards the library while they were distracted and Trixie headed towards the Ravenclaw Common Room, I think. It was madness-"  
  
     "-It was great, Alice! But I'm glad we got out of there. Oh, and here's the tea. The house elves were happy to help," Rebecca grinned and picked up her tea cup.   
  
     "Oh my… is Trixie alright, though?" Lily asked.  
  
     "Yeah, she's a pretty tough bird," Rebecca replied.   
  
     "Becca, don't say bird," Alice chimed, causing Melissa and Rebecca both to laugh, and even Lily to bite back a grin.   
  
     "Well, come on everyone, drink up," Tessa said draining her cup of tea.   
  
     "It's going to be a long afternoon," Melissa sighed looked into her own empty cup. "I suppose this means that a demented hellhound will chase me down one day and slowly eat me to death while a best friend betrays me and the love of my life is struck down by lightning?"   
  
    Tessa leaned over to glance at the brown clumps and put on a thoughtful face. "Quite likely."   
  
     "Lovely."   


~~*~~

  
     "You know, I always suspected Tessa was a bit loony," Peter said, as he and Sirius were climbing into their beds later that evening.   
  
     "Sometimes I wonder why we ever broke up," Sirius chimed quietly.   
  
     "You were probably disrupting her Inner Eye or something…" Peter yawned and snuggled down into his sheets. "We never did get the full story on that."   
  
     "And you're not going to," Sirius gazed at the curtain pulled in front of him. "How do you suppose Remus is doing?"   
  
     "Not too well, I'd wager. I mean… his _parents_. For Merlin's sake, if that is Voldemort, then he's a bigger madman than any of us thought initially…" Peter turned over.   
  
     "Yeah," Sirius said softly. "Yeah, he is."   
  
  
  
  
  
    _Author's Note: For those who asked if I would be doing a Gryffindor Five to accompany this year, than answer is... I don't know. Certainly not right away. I've got an insane year coming up. I'm carrying 25 credits at a college where the normal amount is 16 or 17. I've got to put in at least 60 Theatre hours, I'm writing for my school newspaper and I just volunteered to be a beta over at SugarQuill.net (although I'm not sure if they'll take me up on my offer), not to mention that they're going to post The Marauders: Year One over there, which excites me tons, but means I will majorly need to clean it up. I **know** that The Marauders: Year Three probably won't get done until around Christmas when I'm home on break, if even then. I might dabble with the Gryffindor Five, and if I do, I'll post what I write, but it won't be a regular, committed thing like this is. I'm sooo sorry. But, if worse comes to worse, I promise I'll write at least another two years of the Marauders next summer- hopefully before then. And, there's always the off chance that my course load won't be too bad. So... we'll see. No promises, sorry._


	12. Sweet Potato Pie

  
  
  


**Sweet Potato Pies**

  
  
  
    "Look at this Remus, look at this," Peter crowed happily.   
  
    Remus rushed over and glanced down at the parchment. "Is that a whole area there? The kitchens and the Hufflepuff Common Room?"   
  
    "Yeah, but if we want to really map the inside of their Common Room, someone'll need to figure out a way to get in there," Peter said.   
  
    "I'd say we leave the other Common Rooms for last, they'll be harder to get to," Remus said, sitting down and examining the parchment more closely.   
  
    "But harder is part of the fun," a familiar voice declared loudly. "Isn't it Jamesy boy?"   
  
    "I hate that, Sirius. You know I hate that," another familiar voice replied quietly. "Nice job, Peter."   
  
    "Thanks, James," Peter said, turning around to eye his friend. "Er…" A silence fell among them and Remus let out a loud sigh.  
  
    Remus narrowed his gaze, "Look, I'm fine. Okay? I'll deal. Don't go all mad on me…"   
  
    "Like Tessa and Alice!" Sirius crowed. "The two of them pulled him into one hell of a hug and started fawning over the poor lad."   
  
    Remus turned slightly red. "Exactly. Don't do that."   
  
    James and Sirius exchanged one brief glance before they both jumped up and grabbed Remus in a tight hug.   
  
    "Oh, poor Remmykins."  
  
    "Are you okay Remmy? Need anything?"   
  
    "Like a shoulder to cry on?" Peter pulled back and batted his eyelashes suggestively, causing all four boys to burst into laughter.   
  
    "Thanks," Remus said, in between bursts of laughter. "I needed that."   


~~*~~

  
    "What are you doing?" The two voices clashed loudly in the quiet of the library.   
  
    Lily Evans stood at one end of the long table with her hands planted firmly on her lips, standing next to her was Alice Smith and behind them were Tessa Maris and Becca Longbottom, all three of whom were looking warily at Lily.   
  
    At the other end stood James Potter in a very similar stance, with Sirius Black on one side of him and Peter Pettigrew on the other, the former looking as annoyed as James, the latter wearing a similarly wary look to the girls.   
  
    Sitting at the table in question were Melissa Watts and Remus Lupin. Melissa was balancing her feet up on the table, paging through a book that she still hadn't closed, despite the disturbance. Remus was hunched over stack of books, clutching a quill, but looking from both Lily to James as though they were mad.   
  
    "What does it appear that we're doing?" Melissa asked calmly as she turned another page.   
  
    "Fraternizing with the _enemy_," Lily spit out.   
  
    "I thought that we had cleared up over the holiday that James is the only enemy, and at that, he's only an enemy to _you_, dear," Melissa waved her hand dismissively. "Now, I _know_ you've already got some sort of deranged study schedule to stick to. Go on. You know there's only eight weeks until exams."   
  
    "Mel…" Lily growled warningly.   
  
    "Don't Mel me," she replied tersely. "I have a right to sit where and with whomever I want."   
  
    "But… Mel, its-" Lily began.   
  
    "Remus. You know, that boy who you were _friends_ with last year until all this insanity? He's still the same nice guy, who is kind enough to let me sit with him when you start to go studying crazy," she said hotly.   
  
    "Come on Remus. You know I don't care if you want to hang out with them… but _she's_ here," James muttered.   
  
    "I happen to be studying with my friend, James," Remus replied calmly. "You are, of course, welcome to join us. As are you Lily." He gestured to the many open seats around them.   
  
    "No thanks, Remus," James said quickly. "You know where to find us later." He turned quickly and was followed out by Sirius and Peter.   
  
    "You're unbelievable, Mel. Don't you know where your loyalties lie?" Lily moaned and then rushed out of the library, followed by the other three Gryffindor girls.   
  
    "Sorry about that, Mel," Remus apologized looking down at his books. _Now she's going to leave and we'll never study together again, he thought despondently._   
  
    "No problem, Remus. Lily and James are the nutters, not us. I know exactly where my loyalties lie. You said you were working on the moons of Saturn for your Astronomy project?" she asked. He nodded. "Here," she tossed him a magazine. "There's an interesting article about one of them in there."   
  
    He nodded, pulled the magazine closer to him and went back to work.   


~~*~~

  
    It was late by the time Remus reached his destination. He settled next to a tree and gazed out at the still, black lake. He'd been back to school for nearly three weeks and his parents had been dead for a month and two days, when he drew several little circles in the dirt with his finger.   
  
    _History of Magic essay due on Monday, bloody ogres and plinkopaths, who cares, really?_ he seethed._ All the Ogre Battles in the world won't bring back my mother. Or him._ He sighed and looked up at the crescent moon._ He hated me because of the moon. He hated me for being a stupid little kid and getting bit. He hated me for so many things that weren't my fault and I spent my entire life trying to make him proud of me… never really did succeed at that one. _  
  
    He sighed and brushed his hand over his drawings, trying to erase both them and the pain he felt._ He won't be there for when I'm older and out of Hogwarts and able to sit at the kitchen table and really tell him about the stuff I get up to here and have a laugh with him. He'll never share a butterbeer with me either… He won't be there to add post scripts to mum's letters telling me I'd better shape up or they'll put me in a Muggle military school. What a laugh, as though they'd ever take me out of Hogwarts and put me in a Muggle school much less. Ever since I got accepted here things were getting… better. _   
  
    He felt the tears forming in his eyes and the lumps grow in his throat. _And none of them have any idea what this feels like! James, Peter, even Sirius, they all have their parents… they'll still be there to yell at them for misbehaving when we get off the Hogwarts Express in June and then to hug them because even though they're annoyed at them… they love them._   
  
    He shook himself, trying to clear his head as he gazed out at the Giant Squid's tentacles that were flopping out of the water. _That's not fair, Remus. Don't think like that. James's dad is working the same job as yours did. It could be him next, getting a horrible message from McGonagall. His life isn't exactly peachy either and you don't see him getting all teary eyed and running off in the middle of the night._   
  
    _**No, he runs off to Quidditch practice and tortures Snape into in to oblivion instead. He just hides his fear and ignores what could happen.**_   
  
    "Great, now the voices in my head are fighting with one another," he sighed aloud to himself, rolling his eyes in the direction of the squid.   
  
    _Well, fine… but James has a good reason to be depressed. First the McGonagall's, then… Mum and Dad… his parents are part of this too. At least I don't have to **worry**, they're gone and I know it._   
  
    _**Remus Lupin, they're still there though! They'll be there to hug him and tell him they love him when he gets off the train and to send him owls when we come back next year.**_   
  
    _Still, there's Sirius… at least my mum loved me. His only cares about that horrid brat of a brother he has. Especially since he was sorted into Gryffindor._   
  
    _**But they're there.**_   
  
    _You know, voice. I don't think I like you much. The point is to stop feeling sorry for myself._   
  
    _**I think you're entitled to feeling a bit sorry for yourself. Your parents are dead. They're never coming back and they'll never get to see any of the important things that happen in your life… or even the unimportant ones, the point is, they'll never see you again.**_   
  
    _NO! Dumbledore said 'to the well organized mind, death is but the next great adventure' and my mum and dad loved adventures and they both certainly had well organized minds so that's where they are… on an adventure. And someday I'll catch up with them._   
  
    _**Yes, all that is true. None the less, odds are that it will be quite some time before you catch up with them.**_   
  
    _I can be patient._  
  
    _**That's a laugh.**_  
  
    _Shut up, you._  
  
    _**I say, just give in to it. Cry it off, get it off your chest, rant and rave about how horrid it is to be Remus Lupin right now… and then move on as best you can.**_   
  
    _I don't like your plan. _  
  
    _**Of course you don't. You're a thirteen year old boy and I just suggested that you cry and rave. None the less, I'd say put your stupid ideas of how you should behave aside and deal with this. You've been ignoring it since you went back to Ad Levo to stay with your grandparents and it's been building up.**_   
  
    _I don't know how to just cry and rave, alright? If I did… I'd consider taking you up on it, if it would help this bloody horrid feeling. _  
  
    _**Well, you could think about how your mum will never tell you another story of what she was like when she was at Hogwarts, that she'll never give you another hug good-night, that she'll never tell you that she loves you again, that she'll never kiss you good-bye at Platform Nine and Three Quarters with a kiss that you have to wriggle away from and wipe away but secretly love, that you'll never know that she's just downstairs should anything happen in the night, that you'll never have another one of her Sweet Potato Pies. Ever. **_  
  
    _Oh bloody hell… I really did like those pies._   
  
    _**You pick the pies to concentrate on?**_   
  
    _Does it matter exactly what it is that finally makes me cry? _  
  
    _**But the pies?**_  
  
    _The bloody p-p-p-pies… _  
  
    Remus curled up on the ground, crying so hard he couldn't even breathe over all the never-weres and never-will-bes.   


~~*~~

  
    Peter sat quietly on the step. He'd been there for nearly two hours and was beginning to doze off when he heard the main door to the castle creak open and saw a small boy with windswept brown hair creep in through the crack, tightly clutching a book he was carrying.   
  
    Peter watched as the boy wiped furtively at his eyes, and tried to bite back a sniffle and calm his hitching shoulders.   
  
    "Remus?" he called out softly.   
  
    The boy spun around and glared at his friend, straightening his appearance and trying to paste a happy look on his face. "Peter! Ah… I didn't see you there."   
  
    The blonde haired boy shrugged, "I blend well with shadows, I suppose. I heard you leave, I wanted to make sure you were alright."  
  
    "I'm fine. I'm just fine," Remus replied quickly, trying to make it sound true and wishing desperately that it was.   
  
    Peter snorted. "That's exactly what I say right after you guys find me when some dumb Slytherin's just finished hexing me and it's _never_ true."   
  
    Remus let out the breath that he hadn't even realized he was holding, "Well… I suppose I could be better."   
  
    Peter raised an eyebrow.   
  
    "What do you expect, Peter?" Remus asked, sighing and sitting down. Then he grinned wryly. "I think I sigh too much nowadays. That can't be a good thing for one of the best pranksters to ever grace the Hogwarts grounds to be doing, can it?"  
  
    Peter chuckled quietly. "It is a definite possibility that you could be destroying the Marauder reputations we all worked so hard to achieve."   
  
    Remus snorted softly, "Well… we've still got five full years to rebuild them then."   
  
    "Yeah… we do."   
  
    The two boys sat in silence for a long moment.   
  
    "They're gone."  
  
    "I know."   
  
    "My mum made really great pies…"   
  
    "I remember her Peppermint Humbug Pie. You owled me part of it this summer for my birthday. It was good."   
  
    "Yeah… it was."  
  
    "I'm moving in with my grandparents."   
  
    "I know."   
  
    Remus sighed deeply. "They're alright though, I reckon."   
  
    "That's good."   
  
    "I'm going to get him."   
  
    Peter looked to his friend, startled by the fierceness in his voice. "Who?"   
  
    "Voldemort."   
  
    They sat in silence for a long time, the sun began to rise and both boys could see it filtering in through the windows in the entrance hall.   
  
    "I'll help."   
  
    Remus turned to look at Peter, who just repeated with even more conviction, "I'll help".   


~~*~~

  
    "Have I told you how bloody _not_ brilliant you are lately, Black?" Remus groaned as he scrubbed at his twentieth trophy in as many minutes.   
  
    "Oi, both of you prats just shut it," Frank Lonbottom grumbled and then continued more to himself. "Of all that days for Rob to be absent… I don't know what possessed me to work with you two gits… Mum's going to kill me, I've never had an owl home yet…"   
  
    "You both know you were laughing as hard as the rest of the class when Fortescue and Neder's cauldrons explode. It _was_ brilliant," he said cheerily as he began to polish the Head Boy plaque.   
  
    "Fine, it was brilliant, but it was also you. Frank and I were minding our own business." Remus stood up for a moment, stretching out his back. "I bloody well hate this room." He scowled at all the trophies.   
  
    "Becca's the one who gets detention all the time… A Howler, I'm going to get a Howler, Becca got one after her first detention… and then when I get home dad's going to give me a bloody responsibility lecture, dunno how Becca tunes them out… bloody Dungbombs… bloody Black and Lupin…"   
  
    "This is _not_ my fault, Longbottom," Remus growled, reaching for a new trophy. "The Bloody Baron? The Bloody Baron has a trophy for being the bloodiest bloodless member of the faculty? Bloody hell! I knew this room was just designed for punishment." He scowled down at the trophy. "I'm not polishing that one." Placing it back on the shelf, he grabbed the one next to it.   
  
    They continued to polish in silence for nearly an hour before Remus broke the silence with an exasperated sigh. "So what was in that letter you got today, Sirius?"  
  
    "In the mood for civil conversation now, are we, Lupin?" Sirius retorted before breaking out into a wide grin. "I'm a cousin!"   
  
    "And there's something new about that?" Frank asked averting his eyes from the plaque he was rubbing to Sirius.   
  
    "Yes, I've a new cousin. Andie and Ted had a baby girl two days ago." Sirius jumped up from where he's been sitting and began to walk around the room, gesturing madly, attempting to describe her. "She's about this big, isn't that so small? I can't believe it! Andie said she's bald and her eyes are a bit murky, but they'll clear up in a few more days she thinks, and she's a very calm baby."   
  
    "A _calm_ baby in the Black family? Is that even possible?" Frank quipped with a smirk.   
  
    Sirius tried to glare, but he was too excited to finally get the story out. His letter had arrived late during breakfast and they'd had to rush off to class before he even had a chance to open it.   
  
    "Well," Remus prompted. "Does she have a name?"   
  
    "Nymphadora Tonks," Sirius declared proudly as Remus and Frank both exchanged looks.   
  
    "Nymphadora?" Frank managed to ask before the two boys dissolved into giggles.  
  
    A quick look from Sirius caused them both to stop, "Yes, Nymphadora. I think it's a perfect name."   
  
    "Right, Sirius," Remus snorted and picked up his rag to finish polishing. "Have you lot given any thought to which classes you're going to take next year?"   
  
    "I was thinking of picking up Care of Magical Creatures again. I heard it's being offered now to Third Years and up. I suppose they figure it's safer that way," Frank said.   
  
    "It would be a lot safer if they just fired Kettleburn," Sirius replied, his expression darkening. "I still can't believe that git-"  
  
    "-Yes, well, I was thinking Arithmancy," Remus cut in before Sirius could begin yet another tirade on the incompetence of the Care of Magical Creatures professor.   
  
    "You won't catch me within ten yards of that class. Pete and I were discussing taking Muggle Studies together. James didn't seem too interested," Sirius commented, settling himself back down to finish up his polishing.   
  
    "But Peter's a Muggle born, isn't he?" Frank asked and then shook his head, "Nevermind, Lily's a Muggle born too, and I know she's dying to take it. Lunatics if you ask me."  
  
    "Brilliant, if you ask me," Sirius cut it. "Can you imagine how easy that class will be for the two of them?"   
  
    Frank paused to contemplate that and then grinned, "Spot on, Black. Wish I were a Muggle born." Then he paused and shook his head a bit. "Well, perhaps not."   
  
    "Especially with Voldemort running around. Now there's a real lunatic for you," Sirius replied.   
  
    "Well, I'm done with my section. See you lot back in the Tower," Remus said quickly, placing the last trophy he'd polished back in its spot and exiting the room.   
  
    "You really are an idiot sometimes, you know that Black?" Frank said, chucking one of the smaller plaques towards Sirius.   
  
    "Oh," Sirius's face fell as he realized what he'd just said. "Well, you know, we can't exactly ignore the bugger anymore, can we? They found a bunch of Muggles dead the other day, _Muggles_, mind you, with that bloody thing floating above it, the Dark Mark, they're calling it. Seems as though he had more than just legislation in mind." 


	13. The Crintortoris

  
  
  


**The Crintortoris**

  
  
  
    "What have you done?" Remus asked in a worried whisper.  
  
    Sirius and James were both peering intently up at the staff table in the front of the Great Hall.   
  
    "Does this have anything to do with where you both snuck out to last night?" Remus demanded and then groaned. "Oh, it does, doesn't it?" He turned to Peter. "What did they do?"   
  
    Peter shrugged and turned to look up at the staff table.  
  
    Sirius nudged James, "Look, they're spreading it on the toast."   
  
    Remus groaned again and dropped his head into his hands, "The professors. You're torturing the professors. You've gone mad!"   
  
    "Look," Sirius said, unable to suppress his mirth, "Nackle and McGonagall, they're both spreading it on."   
  
    A look of horror crossed James face.   
  
    "What?" Sirius asked.   
  
    "Dumbledore," he said, looking on helplessly as professor's all tucked in. A sudden pop and half of the staff table had turned into six very pink flamingoes, all but one squawking very loudly, the last quietly preening himself with a look that almost appeared amused, that is, if a flamingo can appear amused to begin with.   
  
    "You're dead," Remus hissed as Peter's jaw dropped at the sight.   
  
    Professors Vector and Sprout stared blankly for a moment at the flamingoes sitting in their midst. Professor Sprout blinked twice and then appeared to be biting back a large grin. Professor Vector, however, scowled at the flamingoes on either side of her (Nackle and the Muggle Studies professor, Jones). Professor Binns seemed to be completely oblivious to the chaos breaking out around him.   
  
    Slowly, the rest of the students in the Great Hall began to notice and laughter began to spread across all four tables.   
  
    A slow grin spread across James and Sirius's face as they took in the sight.  
  
    James turned to whisper to Remus, "Animagus primer number four apparently has several fun alternative uses."   
  
    "Oh Merlin," the brown haired boy groaned as he sunk his head back into his hands.   
  
    "Right then," James grabbed at his friends arm and hauled him up. "Time for Transfiguration."   
  
    "McGonagall's a flamingo, _how_ are we supposed to learn transfiguration today?" Remus growled as he followed the other three boys out of the bedlam that was the Great Hall and towards the Transfiguration corridor.   
  
    "Remus," Peter observed quietly. "They're still… happy. I don't think it's done."   
  
    "Oh no, no, no," Remus muttered. "_What_ is _it_?"  
  
    Peter just shrugged.   
  
    "It's too close to finals for you to wreck our classes," Remus pleaded with James and Sirius, both of whom just grinned condescendingly at him.   
  
    "He's going to be a right old wreck during O.W.L.s," James noted, inclining his head towards Remus.   
  
    "Don't even want to imagine N.E.W.Ts," Sirius added in a chipper tone.  
  
    The group sat down in their seats and waited patiently as the rest of the class straggled in, most still giggling over the incident in the Great Hall. Several moments later, Professor McGonagall strode in, still a violent shade of pink, but otherwise unharmed.   
  
    She glared at the four Gryffindor boys, three of whom put forward their best 'who me?' faces and one of whom moaned softly, dropping his head onto the desk, and then, without a single word, began to hand out the tests the class was due to take that day.   
  
    One by one as each quill touched each piece of parchment, the papers combusted and within seconds, flames could be seen shooting up all over the room. Three different desks caught fire before the madness ended and a Ravenclaw with particularly long hair was rushed off to Madame Pomfrey when it caught fire.   
  
    "Potter, Pettigrew, Lupin and Black, go to my office this _instant_ and wait. Just sit. And wait," McGonagall said through clenched teeth.   
  
    The four boys quickly gathered up their things and headed to her office.   
  
    "That's it," Remus said to them out in the hallway. "_I'm_ planning the next prank, since I had _nothing_ to do with what happened today, but I will inevitably get detention for it. And from the look on McGonagall's face, we'll be in detention until after exams. Bloody hell James, don't you want to spend a June here _not_ in detention?"  
  
    "It's not such a bad way to spend a June," said boy offered casually.   
  
    "How did you do that to the parchments?" Peter asked.   
  
    "Whatever makes you think it was us?" Sirius asked, grinning innocently.   
  
    "The key to surviving today, my friends, is deny, deny, deny," James quipped quietly, pushing open the door to McGonagall's office and settling himself in a seat across from her desk.   
  
    "Surviving _today_? What else have you done, James? Sirius?" Remus asked as he sat down next to his friend.   
  
    "Deny," James repeated.   
  
    "Deny," Sirius added.   
  
    "Deny?" Peter concluded, grinning at his other two friends who clapped him happily on the back.   
  
    "See, Remus. Peter's got it," Sirius proclaimed, settling himself into the last vacant chair. "And at least we got out of that bloody test."  
  
    "She probably failed all of us," Remus grumbled. "Lily will wind up with a higher Transfiguration grade than you, James."   
  
    "What?" the boy gasped, the possibility suddenly flooding his thoughts. "I'll never live it down." He shook his head. "No, if she can't prove it was us, she can't punish us, and the three of us blew up our papers like the rest and you _are_ innocent, Remus. We'll be fine."   
  
    The Marauders sat there until the bell rang signaling the end of class.  
  
    "Great, now we're going to be late for Charms," Remus grumbled. "We're never going to pass our exams, really."   
  
    "You'd think all that extra studying you've been doing in the library with Melissa would've helped him, wouldn't you, James?" Sirius smirked cheekily at his friend.   
  
    "Provided they've been studying of course, I hear Watts never really was one for much studying…" James trailed off, a similar smirk appearing on his own face.   
  
    "I have been studying, thank you very much," a very red Remus retorted. "Not that any of you are very familiar with the term. I swear if I've seen you open a single book this past week, I'd eat my cloak. Obviously you gits have been preoccupied with other activities."   
  
    "What could he be suggesting, dear James?" Sirius implored of his bespectacled friend.   
  
    "Could he possibly think we'd make self-combusting parchment? Or flamingo powder? Why I never!" James looked appalled by the idea.   
  
    The boys were silenced as the door opened and Professor McGonagall strode into the room and sat down behind her desk.   
  
    "Do you boys have anything you wish to tell me?" She peered intently at them one by one.   
  
    "It wasn't me," Peter squeaked under her gaze.   
  
    "Very well, Mr. Pettigrew. If you are absolutely certain that it was not you, but that it _was_ one of the other three young men here, you may leave," she proceeded, watching as the boy nodded, scrambled to pick up his satchel and exited quickly from the room.   
  
    "That little-" Sirius muttered under his breath, but was quickly silenced by a swift kick from James.   
  
    "And you, Mr. Black, were you involved? If you're certain that you weren't, but one of the _others_ here was, you may leave."  
  
    Sirius made no move to get up. "So you mean to say that if I rat one of them out, I can go."   
  
    "Those were not my words Mr. Black, I merely mean to say that if one of these young men were the cause of today's disturbance and you weren't, then you are free to leave."  
  
    "But what if none of us were the cause of today's disturbance?"   
  
    "I am not inclined to believe that to be a plausible option, since Mr. Pettigrew has confirmed that one of you, at least, is guilty."   
  
    Sirius sat for a moment, thinking.   
  
    "Mr. Black."   
  
    "I'm not moving, Professor."   
  
    "Then you are the reason for today's events?"   
  
    "He never said that, Professor," James broke in. "I'm pretty sure he's only ascertaining that perhaps none of us are guilty."   
  
    Professor McGonagall sighed and rubbed her head. "Fine, boys. Whomever is guilty, please remain. If any of you were _not_ involved, please leave. I trust that you'll do what's right."   
  
    She waited a moment until realizing that not one of three boys appeared to have any intention of moving.   
  
    She sighed again. "Detention. All week. All three of you. Report to Mr. Filch this evening after dinner. He'll sort you out. Go on now, you're late to your next class."  
  
    The boys quickly exited to the room and went out into the corridor where Peter was waiting for them.   
  
    "Thanks a bunch, Peter," Remus grumbled. "Now I've got to give up more study time spend my evenings this week polishing trophies or crushing snake fangs. And, once again, _I didn't even do anything_."   
  
    "Sorry… I panicked," Peter said quietly, staring down at his feet. "But I didn't do anything, and how did she prove it was you anyway?"   
  
    "Because when you left you were agreeing that someone in the room had done all that, you git," James said, smacking Peter lightly upside the head. "Not appreciated, mate, not appreciated at all."   
  
    "Oh Merlin," Sirius groaned. "Let's just forget about it and move on. Charms next, isn't it? And we're late. I bet we've already missed all the porcupines turning into bowling balls."   
  
    "I thought we were turning them into cushions today?" Remus asked.   
  
    Sirius smiled wickedly, "That's what Flitwick thought too."   


~~*~~

  
    "So explain to me once again, _how_ did you make all those porcupines turn into bowling balls instead of cushions?" Remus asked, as the four boys made their way out of the Tower.   
  
    "We simply changed the bowling balls into porcupines last night. By starting like that, instead of with real porcupines, well… let's just say, you saw how it can change the outcome a bit," James grinned, shoving his hands in his pockets.   
  
    "I've got to admit it though, I was thoroughly impressed when Evans managed to make her bowling ball squishy," Sirius commented happily.   
  
    "Oh shut up, Sirius," James groaned.   
  
    "I was thoroughly impressed that no one figure out it was you lot who did that," Peter added.   
  
    "Well… here we are. See you later, Pete," Sirius said to his friend as the three boys knocked on Filch's door.   
  
    The door quickly swung open and Argus Filch stood leering down at them. "I thought there was only to be three of you."  
  
    "Yes sir, he's just-"  
  
    Peter cut James off, "No sir, there are four of us."   
  
    "Well then, Mr. Potter _and_ Mr. Pettigrew get down to the dungeons to aid professor Nackle," the two boys stood there for a moment and James let out a very quiet groan. "Oi, I meant now."   
  
    "Yes, sir," James mumbled and the two boys headed off in the direction of the dungeons.   
  
    "You lot, off to Hagrid's hut. He'll be supervising your detention tonight." With that Filch stepped back into his office and slammed the door.   
  
    "Well, that won't be too bad Remmy, Hagrid's a decent chap," Sirius said as they walked out onto the ground.   
  
    "Yeah, provided his latest acquisition doesn't eat us alive while we're down there."   
  
    "True, very true."   


~~*~~

  
    "I can't believe he took our wands," Peter whined after an hour of manually disemboweling newts. "I'm going to smell for a week, at least."   
  
    "What else is new?" James joked from where he was sitting elbows deep in a vat of newt guts that he was mashing. Without thought, he pulled one gloved hand out of the vat to push his glasses up his nose and let out a moan of disgust as he realized he'd left a trail of newt guts down the bridge of his glasses and onto his nose.   
  
    "I can't believe there's only a month left on school," Peter commented an hour later.   
  
    "I know. It seems so odd that we'll be Third Years."   
  
    "But we can go to Hogsmeade next year," Peter said, licking his lips as he thought of Honeydukes.   
  
    "You git, we can already go to Hogsmeade whenever we want," James said in a hushed tone with a glance back to Nackle's office.  
  
    Peter shrugged and grinned embarrassedly, "Right. I hope Remus is alright on his own all summer."   
  
    "He made it without us before…"   
  
    "I wish I could get the fourth primer spell down," Peter stared intently down at the newt as though if he could properly disembowel it, all his transfiguration problems would be over.   
  
    "I'll make sure you get it before summer holiday starts. It's not too difficult, I mean, if you tweak it a bit, it can be quite interesting."   
  
    Peter glared at him, "I'm well aware of that, seeing as how it's the reason I'm up to my elbows in dead newts."  
  
    "Actually, that would be me, mate," James chuckled and then looked down in disgust to the mashed entrails in the vat.   
  
    Peter shook his head and rolled his eyes.  
  
    "And, it's also _your_ fault we're _all_ in this mess tonight, if you'd just kept your mouth shut…"   
  
    "I'm sorry, really. You know me though, James, I just don't think when I'm in a panic and after that last prank, well, you know the note I got from mum. She was furious…"   
  
    "Some Gryffindor you are," James teased, but Peter's expression darkened.   
  
c     "I know."   
  
    James looked over at his friend who was staring resolutely at the ground, ignoring the newt in front of his. "I was teasing, Peter. You might have screwed up earlier, but it took guts to come to detention with us, especially since you didn't have to."   
  
    The chubby boy offered him a weak grin.   
  
    "There just might be some Gryffindor in you yet, me lad," James said, imitating the voice of an old man, badly at that, and the two boys chuckled at they went back to work.   


~~*~~

  
    "Have I mentioned Black, how very much I hate you?"   
  
    "No, Remus, how much do you hate me today?"   
  
    "Words cannot adequately express it."   
  
    The two boys were standing in a paddock next to the forbidden forest wearily eyeing Hagrid's latest acquisition.   
  
    Remus sighed deeply and turned around to where the large man was looking over their shoulders adoringly at that… thing… in front of them.   
  
    "What is that, Mr. Hagrid?"   
  
    "Hagrid'll go jest fine, Master Lupin," the gamekeeper drawled. "Why tha's jest Spot and Pommygranite."   
  
    "Spot?" Sirius managed a choked whisper under his breath.   
  
    "Bet the purple one is Pomegranate," Remus replied in an equally low tone.  
  
    "Nah, Pommygranite's tha pink one, o'er there, see? Tha purple one 's tha babe. Dun have a name fer 'im yet," Hagrid scratched his head. "Think 's a 'im anyway. Might be a her."   
  
    "Er… what sort of species are Spot and Pomegranate?" Remus carefully turned back towards the creatures.  
  
    "Na quite sure now, am I? Met up wit a fella in Diagon Alley happened to be wanting ta get tha pair 'o them off 'is hands, well, I was more 'an willin to oblige. Din't know she was pregnant till tha lil one there just showed up, 'e did. Er, or she did. You know. Tha chap called 'em crintortoris's, 'e did," Hagrid beamed down adoringly on the creatures, one of which was running laps around the pen at an alarmingly fast speed, stopping only occasionally to jump into the air, bite into a low flying bird with a nice, loud crunch, and then resume it's running.   
  
    Both boys winced at the second crunch.   
  
    "So you want us to go in there, muck out their stalls, and feed them?" Sirius asked, carefully eyeing the pen as though he were debating whether or not darting off into the Forbidden Forest would be safer.   
  
    "A'yuh," Hagrid grinned. "Ye lot got off easy wit this detention, I'd reckon. I s'ppose I ought to warn ye a bit, tha green one's a might bit feisty. Well, get to it then."   
  
    Hagrid started off towards his hut as Remus and Sirius looked slightly fearfully at one another.   
  
    "Well, alright, all we've got to do is much out the stalls and feed three creatures that have long spiked tails, each spike appears to be dripping _something_, which is no doubt some sort of poison, as that's exactly the type of thing old Hagrid would find _cute_, they've got four sets of pinchers coming out of their backs and it would appear that their tongues are abnormally long since… sweet Merlin, look at that, Remus," Sirius pointed at the little purple creature.   
  
    During Sirius's rambling the little creature had shot it's tongue out across the paddock and wrapped it around a tree, then it had slowly recoiled it's tongue, hauling its body across the expanse leaving a thick trail of blue goo, when it got there, it let go of the tree only to reveal that it had left deep burn marks in the place where its tongue had been wrapped.   
  
    "Lovely, poisonous tongues, too," Remus commented dryly. "Well, let's get this over with. At least we get to keep our wands for this one."   
  
    "Yeah, well I'm sure Hagrid just wanted to be able to point out that we were 'perfectly safe and well armed' when the Wizengamot bring him up on charges for the deaths of two minors."  
  
    As he said this, Remus dove out of the way when the pink one, Pomegranate, shot out her tongue in a similar fashion to her child's and nearly wrapped itself around Remus.  
  
    "I think you've got a point Sirius. That little purple one is a monster."   
  
    "Awww," Sirius cooed at it. "Here ickle monster, monster. What do you think Hagrid would say if we named it?"   
  
    "Do _not_ say 'here ickle monster, monster'. I don't even want to imagine what would happen if that bloody thing listened to you."  
  
    "I'm naming it. Its name is Monster," Sirius grinned proudly in the direction of the purple creature that was shooting out its tongue again and slowly sliding to a different area of the paddock.   
  
    "I'm sure Hagrid will just love that. Now come on you git, let's go muck out those stalls." 


	14. The Rise of Voldemort

  
  
  


**The Rise of Voldemort**

  
  
  
    "I can't believe he let you name that thing named Monster," Remus replied several hours later as they staggered towards the castle.  
  
    "You're just upset because Pomegranate tried to kiss you. I thought it was sweet really, you could use some action, Remmy."  
  
    "Not from a creature with a poisonous tongue, Sirius. Only you could manage to bond with a, what did Hagrid call it?"   
  
    "Crintotoris. Well, actually Hagrid tended to refer to them as his ickle bitty petsies, the man's not all there I'd wager."   
  
    "No kidding? Are you aware that the rough translation of that from Latin is tail of torture?"  
  
    "Is it really? No surprise there really, those things have some nasty tails on them."   
  
    Remus groaned slightly and rolled his eyes, but brightened as he saw Peter and James emerge from the dungeons.   
  
    "Oi, James! Peter!" Remus started off towards them with Sirius at his heels, but stopped short and took a step back when he got near. "_What_ is that smell?"   
  
    "Do we smell, Peter?" James looked curiously at his friend.   
  
    "No idea, if we do, my nose accustomed itself to it a long time ago."   
  
    James turned to Remus, "Sorry, we were disemboweling and mashing newts, lovely time. How'd you lot fare?"   
  
    "Ever heard of Crintotoris'?"   
  
    The two boys shook their heads.   
  
    "Then consider yourself lucky and let's hope that Kettleburn never gets his hands on them."   
  
    James smirked, "Well, Hagrid can be a bit excitable about his animals."  
  
    "That's one word for it."   
  
    "Stark raving mad is another."   
  
    The four boys chuckled and headed towards the Common Room.   


~~*~~

  
    "I'm sure you all know why you've been called here today," Peter Bell announced to his team. They'd gathered in an empty classroom for a final Quidditch team meeting.   
  
    "To rub it in that _Slytherin_ won the Quidditch Cup, no doubt," Emmaline Vance muttered quietly to Marlene McKinnon. James overheard and sighed in agreement.   
  
    "Not necessarily, the man is a lunatic, I suspect he noshes on alihotsy regularly before anything regarding Quidditch, so who knows where this is going," Marlene whispered back.   
  
    Peter cleared his throat loudly. "There are only two and a half weeks left in the term. I know I'm taking away valuable study time for myself and Wood, as we're both in preparation for the N.E.W.T.s and Meg has O.W.L.s coming up next week, none the less, I feel this is important."   
  
    Peter sat down and ran his hands through his curly blonde hair and grinned somewhat sheepishly at his teammates, "Our season's over, you all know that. I screamed bloody murder at each and every one of you about whatever mistakes you made during that game the week after we played it. The fact of the matter is, though, that you were all one hell of a team. The Slytherins played dirty, we all knew that and Ravenclaw, well… hell, they were damn near unbeatable this year, but we _did_ beat them. I'm trying to say," he paused, took a deep breath and then nodded his head slightly, "good work guys. It was a pleasure playing with you."  
  
    The rest of the team sat back in shock. Every one of them had appeared to be expecting a berating for their performance from Bell.   
  
    "Which leads us to our next order of business," he continued on quickly. "McGonagall usually picks the new captain, but last year, when it was just the three of us left, we had a meeting with the team and we chose. She let us keep our decision. I think it works better like that, so I'd like to know who you'd all like to consider as the new captain next term. I'll bring the team recommendation to McGonagall after this."   
  
    "Well that's easy, it's either Meg or Beamish, don't you think?" Emmaline offered.   
  
    "I say we give it to Meg, but just so you know, I'll be going after it when she graduates," Alan Beamish told the team.   
  
    Meg's eyes widened and she shook her head, "I… er, actually, I don't want to be Captain."   
  
    James and Rebecca looked at her as though she were mad.   
  
    "But you'd make a fantastic captain, Meg," Rebecca said. "You've spent all year working with James and me and look how much better we are because of it. You could do that with the whole team."   
  
    "I think you'd make a really good choice, Meg. You know as much about Quidditch as your brother and you're not as insane. That's a bloody fantastic combination," James put in, deflecting Peter Bell's glare with an innocent grin.   
  
    "No, it's not that I don't think I'd be good at it, it's just that… if my O.W.L.s go how I'm hoping they will, then I want to train to be an Auror and that's a really heavy course load on top of Prefect duties," she grinned apologetically.   
  
    "You're _quitting_ the team?" Alan burst out, jumping out of his seat and striding over to stand menacingly in front of her.  
  
    "_No_, I am _not_ quitting the team, I just don't think I could focus on _leading_ the team." She began to pick at the hem on the cuff of her robes.   
  
    "You'd rather train to be an Auror that play Quidditch?" Nathan McDonald piped up. "Are you _mad_?"   
  
    Margaret gave him a rather nasty glare, "You have noticed that it's not all fun and games out in the real world lately, haven't you?" The entire team froze up for a moment; all of them flicking glances at James who they all knew was Remus's best friend. He just sighed and crossed his arms over his chest.   
  
    "Trust me," the messy haired boy replied quietly, "we're well aware it's not all fun and games. Good for you, if you want to be an Auror." He took a deep breath as the rest of the team relaxed.   
  
    "Well then, I guess it's Beamish?" Marlene asked. "Are you up for it?"   
  
    "Am I up for it? Are you kidding? If you're going to vote me captain, I've got to go start planning strategy _now_ because we _will_ win next year. None of this namsy pamsy with the Slytherins. They are going down," Alan began pacing back and forth in front of the room sporadically hitting his fist into his palm as he raved.   
  
    Peter beamed as he observed, "Fantastic choice, I think."   
  
    "Another alihotsy addict," Marlene whispered to Emmaline with a grin.   
  
    "So then, are you all in favor? Wood and I'll abstain from the vote, as we won't be here."   
  
    "Sounds good to me," Margaret replied with a grin.   
  
    Rebecca nodded her assent.   
  
    "Sure," James said at the same time as Nathan McDonald.   
  
    "Well if we must have another lunatic…" Marlene commented with a grin.   
  
    "I suppose Beamish will do," Emmaline finished for her.   
  
    "Congratulations Beamish," Bell exclaimed, clapping him on the back. "Provided McGonagall approves and all, but I don't see why she wouldn't." A moment later, the old Peter Bell was back, "Now what are you all still doing here, you've all got exams and finals to study for that you bloody well better ace. It'll be hard enough to replace a Seeker and a reserve Beater next term, not to mention any of you lot if you fail out of Hogwarts." Then he strode quickly from the room, just in time to miss Emmaline, Marlene, and Rebecca burst into giggles and even Margaret to let loose a wide grin.   
  
    "Some things never change," Nathan commented, looking to the spot where Bell had just been standing.   
  
    "Well, he's right. I've got to get some studying done. So do you Meg, those O.W.L.s were pretty unpleasant," Henry Wood said, standing up and offering his arm to Margaret. "Might I escort you to Gryffindor Tower?" he asked in a false pompous voice, with a grin playing on his lips.   
  
    "I think all that studying had addled your brain, Henry Wood," Margaret offered good-naturally as took his arm and the two strolled out of the classroom.   
  
    "Are they-" Emmaline leaned into Marlene as Marlene asked her, "Do you think they're-"  
  
    "Going together?" they finished at the same time and chuckled.   
  
    "Any poor child of theirs would be beyond obsessed with Quidditch. Worse than Henry, I'd wager," Vance said, as she stood up.   
  
    "Oh I know, but I bet he'd be cute," McKinnon added, the two of them gossiping all the way out the door.   
  
    James was surprised when Rebecca leaned over. "Please, please, don't leave me alone with Alan. Will you walk back to Gryffindor with me? Now?" she pleaded in a low whisper.   
  
    James looked surprised but shrugged, "Er… sure, Becca. Ready then?" Before the words had even left his mouth, Rebecca had jumped up and was headed for the door. James scrambled after her and out into the hallway.   
  
    "Why don't you want to walk with Beamish?" James asked, noting she went slightly red when he did.   
  
    "It's er… complicated."  
  
    "Try me."   
  
    "No."   
  
    "Fine then. I'll just stop here and wait for Beamish and see what he tells me."   
  
    Rebecca stopped short and grabbed his arm, "No, please… just keep walking and I'll tell you."   
  
    He grinned at her as they continued to walk. "Well?"   
  
    "He likes me."   
  
    "Oh." There was a moments pause. "That's a bad thing?"   
  
    "I don't know," she moaned quietly.   
  
    "Er… okay."   
  
    She bit her lip. "I don't expect you to understand, but I certainly didn't want you to leave me alone so… there you have it."   
  
    "But if you like him, then why wouldn't you want to walk with him?"   
  
    "Because I don't know if I like him and it's just strange. It's scary being alone with him."   
  
    James stopped and looked at her, "Did he do anything to you?"   
  
    "Sweet Merlin," she threw her hands up in the air exasperatedly, "why do all boys think that? You sound just like Frank. No, he didn't try anything. And if he did, I know perfectly well how to take care of myself, thank you very much, Mr. Potter."   
  
    "Well sorry," James muttered. "I was just concerned."   
  
    Rebecca sighed. "I know, I'm sorry. It's just… I'm _thirteen_, he's _fifteen_. That's too big of a difference now. And well, I don't really want to 'walk' with anyone just yet, if you know what I mean? I'm still getting used to the idea that your kind doesn't have cooties yet."   
  
    "Ah, yes… dragon cooties," James mused. "Well, I'm with you on that one. Sirius is the only one of my friends who seems to have completely gotten over that. It does take some getting used to."  
  
    "And he's fifteen, I mean… he's definitely over the girls have dragon cooties thing…" She sighed again as they approached the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Banana Fritters."   
  
    The portrait opened up and the two young Gryffindors scrambled through the hole. "Thanks, Potter. I owe you one."   
  
    He grinned, "Forget about it. But you might want to head in the opposite direction from me, Evans is glaring a look to kill."   
  
    "Can I help it we're on the Quidditch team together?" She rolled her eyes and the two parted for opposite sides of the Common Room where their friends awaited them.   


~~*~~

  
    "What is it?" James asked as he sat down to breakfast the next day. The Great Hall was curiously quiet and most of the seats were filled.   
  
    Remus, wearing a look strange look of anger, sadness and fear, a look, James quickly noticed, that was prevalent upon a lot of the students in the Great Hall, pushed the _Daily Prophet_ at him. That action was enough to make James shake his head violently and try to push back from the table.   
  
    "Is it me?" he asked just above a whisper. "My parents?"  
  
    "No," Peter replied in an equally quiet voice from where he sat, his breakfast untouched.   
  
    James slumped in his seat, relieved, although as that thought crossed his mind he felt bad. Even though it wasn't his parents, that didn't mean it wasn't someone elses. "I'm not reading that." He shook his head. "What happened?"   
  
    The three Marauders looked from one to another until Remus opened his mouth.  
  
    "It's Voldemort again. He's got… followers," Remus glanced quickly at Sirius.   
  
    The boy scowled angrily, but even he could hide the fear and the feeling of being lost that was prevalent in his features, "Like my family. They supported all his idiotic anti-Muggle born legislation and now, well… a lot of them are taking it to the next step. I _don't_ think my family still agrees with him, but…" He shook his head.   
  
    Remus continued, "The press is calling his following Death Eaters. They've got a-" he paused to search for the correct word, "-movement of sorts. They've been behind the-" He stopped short.   
  
    "So he fessed up about killing your parents? I hope he admitted it about Trixie's family too," James said angrily, his eyes searching out Trixie over at the Ravenclaw table. When he found her he was surprised to find that she seemed calmer than most of the people at her table; however, unlike the rest of them, she had a resigned but determined look on her face.   
  
    "Yes," Remus said. "Both actually, and that group of Muggles earlier in the year. The thing is… there was another attack, a big one. A group of Aurors went to try and stop it, but you know how the Aurors are right now…"   
  
    James thought of Margaret Bell and her ambition to become one, "They're understaffed, aren't they? But no one was very concerned because everything has been alright since Grindlewald fell… it's not anymore though, is it?"   
  
    Sirius shook his head, "No, so they're actively recruiting now. Earlier, no one wanted to do it because it was such hard work, you need a lot of N.E.W.T.s to apply and you've got to be calm in dangerous situations. On top of that, no one really saw a need, you know, a few was enough. Now no one really wants to do it because it's looking like…"   
  
    "It's going to get a lot worse before it gets any better," Peter quietly interjected. He'd been more quiet than usual this morning.   
  
    "Are you alright, Peter?" James asked.   
  
    The boy let out a harsh laugh, "Yeah, James, I'm just _peachy_. There's a deranged wizard, a really powerful one at that, who wants to get rid of all the Muggle-borns. I'm doing brilliantly."   
  
    "He won't get you, Peter," James vowed.   
  
    "Oh yeah, who's going to stop him? Me? I can't even do a stupid primer spell for that bloody transfiguration. You? Remus? Sirius? We're just Second Years, James. Wake up, we don't stand a chance if he comes after us." He stopped and looked at the three of them. "Not that you lot have to worry about that," he finished bitterly.   
  
    "I'll stand up to him," Sirius replied quietly, a fierce determination in his eye. "He's not going to do anything to you, Pete."   
  
    "Not a thing, Peter," Remus agreed, looking Peter in the eye. "Never."   
  
    James nodded, "As long as we stick together, we'll be fine." Slowly it dawned on him that he understood the look on Trixie's face entirely. She wasn't resigning herself to give in and she wasn't stuck in between making that decision. She _knew_. She was going to fight that bastard. In that moment, James made the same decision.   
  
    "So then, what happened? It's not as though Auror recruitment is really going to effect us for some time yet."   
  
    "Well, to begin with, the Aurors who went out to stop him… all of them were killed. They managed to take out one Death Eater, but all six of them were killed," Remus continued, mechanically citing the facts.   
  
    "Bloody hell," James said under his breath.  
  
    "It gets worse, the Aurors he killed were Arthur Whimple, Timothy Meadows, Roger and Simone Ackerly, Linda Vance, and Harvey Zigtwith."  
  
    "Did you say Vance?" James looked in a panic down to where Emmaline usually sat with Marlene, she wasn't there.  
  
    Sirius nodded, "Her mum, yeah. And all five of the others have kids here, too. Gilbert Whimple and Dorcas Meadows are Fifth Year Hufflepuffs. Dan Ackerly's a Seventh Year in Ravenclaw and I think Harvey Zigtwith is a First Year."   
  
    James stared at his friend in horror. Sirius gave him a resigned look.   
  
    "That's…" James couldn't find the words.   
  
    "If it's even possible, it gets worse. A lot of the students got letters from their parents… a lot of them are applying to become Aurors," Remus said quietly.   
  
    "That sounds like their signing their own death certificates," James replied.  
  
    "In essence…" Remus trailed off.  
  
    "So why don't they just find the Death Eaters and put them in Azkaban? Why don't they just kill Voldemort?" James asked.   
  
    Remus shrugged, "I suppose it's not that easy. The paper said he's quite possibly the strongest wizard alive."  
  
    James cut him off, "Albus Dumbledore is the strongest wizard alive and it'd do that Voldemort git well not to forget it."   
  
    "Here, here," Sirius agreed quietly, waiting for Remus to finish.   
  
    "As for the Death Eaters, they all wear hoods, it's not exactly as though they parade around the streets going 'oi there, I'm a Death Eater'. For all we know, we could be sitting with people whose parents are Death Eaters."   
  
    Sirius snorted, "Probably the entire bloody Slytherin table can lay claim to that."   
  
    "Lovely," James muttered, sitting back to take in all he'd heard today. Then he sat forward once more. "What happened to the people the Death Eaters were trying to kill? Did they stop them?"   
  
    Remus winced and shuddered. Sirius answered for him. "They're alive. The Aurors stopped them."   
  
    "Good."  
  
    "It was the Watts."   
  
    James stared blankly back at him and then asked slowly, "Melissa's family?"  
  
    Sirius nodded.   
  
    "Sweet Merlin, they sent her home?"   
  
    "Are you mad?" Sirius asked. "No. They're trying to figure out what to do, but for now, Hogwarts is the safest place. Though I talked with Tessa this morning, she said Mel's going mad with worry. She's got a little brother you know. He's only three. Mel's scared to death about what they could do to him."   
  
    James shook his head, "That man is taking nutter to an entirely new level."  
  
    Remus's eyes widened and then, as though he couldn't help himself, he burst into laughter. Sirius followed a moment later, and they were quickly joined by Peter. Even James felt his lips curl up into a grin. Despite the fact that the Marauders must've looked like heartless monsters to the rest of the Great Hall, the four boys all laughed until tears poured down their cheeks while the people sitting nearby them slid farther away down the table. 


	15. Siding

  
  
  


**Siding**

  
  
  
    "Have you noticed that James and Lily are behaving far more civilly to one another recently?" Rebecca asked. She was walking towards the library with Frank and Peter.   
  
    "Actually, yes," Peter said. "They seem to have come to some sort of silent truce. It's a lot more pleasant that before."   
  
    "No kidding, I had nothing to do with any of this and I still wound up covered in honey and waking at the crack of dawn," Frank grumbled.   
  
    His sister burst into laughter, "That was Alice."   
  
    "Huh?"   
  
    "We all picked an area of the room but we tried to avoid yours… Alice forgot. Actually, I think she thought you were Sirius, and he'd turned her shoes into hamsters earlier that day. Now you see that she's like when she's out for revenge."   
  
    Frank's eyes widened for a moment and then returned to their regular size, "Good to know she understands the fine art of revenge. We just need to work on accuracy."  
  
    The three of them chuckled at that and entered the library.   
  
    "So what are you two signing up for next term?" Peter asked as they settled into a table.   
  
    "Latin Studies and Arithmancy," Frank said.   
  
    Peter and Becca made identical faces, "Latin Studies?"  
  
    "Oh get off it, Becca. You know what I want to do when I grow up, Latin Studies'll be useful. And there's talk of discontinuing it soon, so I need to sign up now. It goes beyond just Latin into ancient Greek and Roman, too."   
  
    "Why not just take Ancient Runes?"   
  
    "Because that's not really what spells are comprised of."   
  
    "What do you want to do?" Peter asked, he'd never given much thought to what he wanted to do after Hogwarts, it seemed so far away.   
  
    "I want to work for the Ministry designing spells."  
  
    "Isn't he nuts, Peter? What a dull job."   
  
    "Get off it, Beck. And what exactly are you taking?"  
  
    "Muggle Studies and Care of Magical Creatures."   
  
    "Dad's going to kill you."   
  
    "But Mum will save me… they're more lady-like in her deranged little world than a class like Arithamancy or Ancient Runes."   
  
    "Sure she'll save you, until she finds out what you want to do with those classes."  
  
    "Do with them?" Peter asked.   
  
    "I want to work with Magical Creatures. Dunno which ones yet."  
  
    "What does Muggle Studies have to do with that?"  
  
    "Good question, Pete."   
  
    "Nothing at all, I just didn't know what else I wanted to take, so Alice, Lily and I are going to take that together."   
  
    "You got Lily to take a slacker class?" Frank asked incredulously.   
  
    Rebecca chuckled, "She suggested it actually, 'fascinating to study Muggles from the wizarding point of view'. The girl's a bit off, that's for sure."  
  
    "Oi," Frank chuckled. "What about you, Peter?"   
  
    "Muggle Studies and Ancient Runes, so I guess we'll have a class together, Becca," he looked over to her.   
  
    She nodded and smiled, "We can torture Lily together. But for now, Flitwick's got the one up on torture, we'd best finish studying for this final."   
  
    "Only Charms and Potions, then we're done with Second Year, how odd," Frank mused, pulling his text out of his satchel.   
  
    "Yeah, how odd," Peter agreed quietly.   


~~*~~

  
    "Bloody hell, Remus, how did you manage one hundred and fifteen percent in Defense Against the Dark Arts? And don't give me any of that 'I studied' malarkey," Sirius whistled as he looked at the posted grades.   
  
    "Jabberwocky extra credit essay at the end of the final." The brown haired boy eagerly scanned the paper for his own grades. He grinned to himself, "Second in the Year, not bad at all." He turned to James, "I edged you out by a point this year."   
  
    "And Lily edged _you_ out by two points," Peter commented, glancing at his own grades and wincing. "Well, it's a bit better than last year."   
  
    James clapped him on the back, "You did brilliant in Herbology again, Pete." Then his eyes widened. "I _did_ it!"   
  
    "What?"   
  
    "Oh bloody hell," Remus muttered, pointing to Lily Evan's final marks for Charms. "He beat her by two points. She's going to have a fit."   
  
    At that moment, the aforementioned red head pushed her way through the group with Alice Smith at her side.   
  
    "Top of the year again, Lil."   
  
    Lily hushed her friend and seemingly searched for a specific grade. "Ah ha!" She turned to James and smirked. "You seem to have finished up with a ninety seven percent in Transfiguration, Mr. Potter."   
  
    He smirked back, "I know."   
  
    Her smirk melted into a sweet grin, "That's a decent grade. Not as good as one hundred and one percent."   
  
    "What?" James pushed back through the crowd to look at the paper again. "Bloody hell, how? What? McGonagall _never_ gives extra credit. _Never_."   
  
    "Do you recall that paper on the finer points of inter-animal transfigurations that Professor Nackle assigned when covering her class? No one did it, so she didn't make it count?" Her grin widened as a look of recognition crossed his face. "Let's just say she made sure all my hard work didn't go to waste."   
  
    James scowled for a moment, but then his expression brightened as a thought crossed his mind, "Pity really, that you didn't put that time towards Charms."   
  
    "Get off it, Potter. I'm the best Charms student in our year by meters." She crossed her arms and glared at him.   
  
    "Really? Odd then that my grade is two points higher than yours."   
  
    "What?" She spun back around to double check what he'd just said. "I don't believe it," she muttered and then stalked away angrily, Alice following after her, shooting a sympathetic look over her shoulder.   
  
    "Right then, I think it's a lovely day to sit by the lake, so that's what I'm going to do," Remus claimed, starting off in the directions of large doors that led out onto the grounds.   
  
    The other three followed and they were soon settled comfortably in front of the lake.   
  
    "What have you got there Remus? Exams are over, put the books down," James teased.   
  
    "Isaac Asimov," Remus muttered, not looking up from the book. His back was propped comfortably against a tree and his legs were splayed in front of him.   
  
    "Who?" Sirius asked, trying to peer at the book cover.   
  
    "Another Muggle writer," Peter replied. "Write science fiction stuff, robots and androids, lots of other stuff, too, never really liked it myself. I suspect he's a Squib, most of the science fiction readers seem to be."  
  
    "Let's see," Sirius tapped his chin thoughtfully. "You might not like it, but I'd wager anything that Melissa Watts does."   
  
    Remus was so startled he actually dropped the book. The other Marauders had let up on him about her recently and he'd hoped they'd just forgotten. _Fat chance_, he thought wryly.   
  
    "Well there's our answer then," Sirius continued. "We thought you might've had a thing for Evans-"  
  
    "-or McGonagall, Trixie that is," James interrupted. "Apparently we were wrong."   
  
    "I… no. I just like… science fiction. Bugger off, you gits," Remus muttered, picking up the book and trying to hide behind it. The other three boys chuckled, but dropped the matter.   
  
    James reached into his satchel and pulled out a Quaffle.   
  
    "Did you nick that?" Peter asked incredulously.   
  
    "Borrowed, Peter. The key word is borrowed. I fully intend to return it before we leave." He lobbed the ball to Sirius and the two proceeded to play catch for some time, while Peter alternating between watching them and trying to turn Bob into a porcupine (part of the fifth primer spell).   
  
    After a bit, Peter gave up and scooted over to where Remus was reading.  
  
    "Which book is it?"   
  
    Remus tilted the book so that Peter could see the title.   
  
    "For Mel, huh?"   
  
    Peter saw the back of his neck begin to turn red. "Maybe I just want to read it myself."   
  
    "Right. Just like any normal eleven year old boy want to read _Little Women_."   
  
    "This isn't _Little Women_."  
  
    "I know."   
  
    Remus sighed and closed the book.  
  
    "I still don't understand why you keep reading these books."   
  
    "To talk to her."   
  
    "But she seems to like talking with you about anything."   
  
    "That's because she'll talk to anyone about anything."   
  
    "So?"   
  
    "I want her to talk to me because… I want her to want to talk to me... differently than she wants to talk to any of you," Remus shook his head. "That sounded mad."   
  
    "Yeah, it did, you nutter," Peter grinned. He glanced slyly over at James and Sirius who were still completely wrapped up in their game of catch, they were now timing the quaffle to heat up with each toss, apparently it would eventually burst into flames. "Do you want to kiss her?"   
  
    Remus turned bright red, "Er…"   
  
    "Fine, sorry I asked," Peter amended quickly. "I just thought there were no secrets between Marauders."   
  
    Remus sighed again, "No, you're right. I… eventually."  
  
    "Eventually?" Peter looked puzzled.   
  
    Remus hesitated and then began to speak with a look of resigned humiliation on his face, "You know Frank and Alice, right?"   
  
    "Well, tuh."  
  
    "You know they like each other. A lot."   
  
    Peter nodded.   
  
    "And well, you know Tessa and Sirius, they 'went out' and they flirt with one another all the time. You know they like each other, but it's not the same, right?"   
  
    Peter mulled it over for a moment, "Yeah, you're right. They're nowhere near the same."   
  
    "But Alice and Frank have never gone out and, well… I think they're smarter that way."   
  
    "Why?"   
  
    "They'll last."   
  
    Peter looked at him as though he were mad. "What do you mean?"   
  
    Remus blushed even redder and ducked his head back into his book so his friend couldn't see his face, "I think I love her, Peter."   
  
    Peter's jaw dropped and his head immediately swiveled to check on James and Sirius again. He was sure that if they'd overheard there was no way they'd be able to mask their reactions. Clearly they hadn't as they were still intent upon their game of catch. Peter shook his head as though to clear his mind and then looked back at his quiet, brown haired friend.   
  
    "Does she love you?"   
  
    "No."   
  
    "Oh…" The two boys sat in an awkward silence for a long moment. "Are you sure?"  
  
    "Yes."   
  
    "Oh."   
  
    "Don't tell the others Peter, please? They wouldn't… I mean… they'd think I need to be committed."   
  
    "Of course not," he said quickly, fully resolved to keep this secret to himself. Then he chuckled, trying to break the tension, "Although _I'm_ not so sure you shouldn't be committed."   
  
    Remus gave him a look and then chuckled with him.   


~~*~~

  
    "Toss me my socks, Pete?" Sirius yelled from across the room as the four boys packed up their belongings.   
  
    "These are yours? I thought they were mine," Peter said, preparing to throw them.   
  
    Remus quickly intercepted, "Actually, you gits, they're mine. Thank you, Peter." Remus crossed over and finished folding up his robes. "I can't wait to go to Diagon Alley, I really need new robes. I must've grown four inches this year, these are far too short."   
  
    "I hear you, Remmy," Sirius said, gesturing to the hem of his own robes that were rather short.   
  
    Peter and James both exchanged slightly envious glances, neither of them had grown much that year.   
  
     "My mum and dad told me I could invite the three of you over for a week or two this summer," Peter told the others as he unceremoniously dumped his text books into his trunk. "I was thinking the beginning of August."   
  
    "Sounds good," Sirius said. "Anything to get me out of my house." He groaned. "Two months in the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black… kill me now, please."   
  
    "Isn't your brother starting here next year?" James asked as he dumped an object that looked suspiciously like a school Quaffle into his trunk.   
  
    "Yeah, I'm sure Slytherin will house another Black. Bella will be thrilled," Sirius replied dryly.   
  
    Quickly trying to change the subject (since Sirius could rave about the madness that was his family for hours when in the company of close friends), Remus asked, "So what are you lot doing for the holiday?"  
  
    "My mum is keen on me getting a paper route for the summer, but I'm hoping to avoid that somehow. I don't really fancy rising before the crack of dawn to ride my bicycle around the neighborhood," Peter grumbled.   
  
    "A paper route? What's that?" James asked  
  
    "A horrid way devised to earn money by getting up far too early in the morning."  
  
    "Oh. Best of luck with that, mate," James replied cheekily. Peter glared at him. "Any better on the Black front?"   
  
    "I think I'm going to sneak away to spend a few days with Andie and Nymphadora, then back to the prison," Sirius sighed. "I'd invite you lot, you know, but…"   
  
    "You know, I don't really think we want to go, so don't worry about it too much, Sirius," Peter injected.   
  
    "Understandable. And you, Remmy? Going to owl love letter back and forth with Mel all summer?"   
  
    Remus tossed his pillow at him.  
  
    "You should just _tell her_! Easiest thing in the world, I'm telling you."   
  
    _Easy as hugging an acromatula_, Remus thought._ Actually, I think I'd prefer the acromantula_.  
  
    "Let him alone, Sirius," Peter said, his voice muffled from speaking while rummaging in his trunk. Remus flashed Peter a grateful look.   
  
    "I'm just going to spend the summer catching up on reading."   
  
    All three of the other Marauders stopped what they were doing to stare at him incredulously.   
  
    Remus rolled his eyes. "Pete?"   
  
    "My family and I are going camping for a bit," he sat down on his trunk and tried to lean over to close the latches, but the trunk was too full and his weight wasn't enough to close it. Sirius crossed over and stood on the trunk next to Peter as James and Remus each wrestled a latch closed. "I was thinking maybe you lot could come with us, if I asked, they'd probably let me."   
  
    "Sure Pete," Remus smiled, then his smile darkened. "It would really depend on when."   
  
    Peter's eyes widened with a look of concern, "Oh no, Remus. I'd make sure it was when you could come."   
  
    Remus forced a smile, "Thanks, but don't go to any trouble for me."   
  
    This time Sirius sacked Remus with a pillow, "_You're no trouble, you git._ How many times are we going to have to say that to make you believe it?"   
  
    Remus smiled sheepishly and tossed the pillow back lightly, "A lot, most likely."   
  
    "Well then we will. Potter? Your summer schedule?"   
  
    "Quidditch, Quidditch and more Quidditch. If my parents will let you lot over for a bit…" James crammed the rest of his robes in and managed to shut his trunk.   
  
    "Don't worry about it, we'll see one another somehow this summer," Remus managed as he neatly shut his trunk. "Ah ha!" He dove under his bed and a moment later presented Bob to Peter. "Found hi-" He dove under Peter's bed this time and came up with a sorry looking amphibian. He shook his head and put Arthur back in his cage on top of Frank's trunk.   
  
    James and Sirius laughed as Peter put Bob back into his cage and Remus slipped from the room, with a final glance back at his three friends, now trying to catch the rat, since Peter had forgotten to latch the cage.   


~~*~~

  
    "Well, I think I'm going to pop in and bid adieu to the lovely Madison Bell," Sirius said, standing up. The Marauders were on the Hogwarts Express headed back to London. Sitting in their compartment for a final visit with them were Tessa and Melissa.   
  
    Tessa rolled her eyes good naturedly at him, "You're going to scare her to death, Sirius Black. If you ever want to really date her in the future, you need to stay away from her now."   
  
    The train jolted and Sirius grabbed onto the luggage rack above him with one hand. "What do you mean?"   
  
    "I mean, she's noticed that you stare at her _all the time_ and that you always go out of your way to say hello to her in the corridors. It's terrifying her, really."   
  
    "Never terrified you," he retorted, appearing puzzled.   
  
    "I'm different."   
  
    Melissa snorted, "That's an understatement."   
  
    "How are you different?"   
  
    "Well, to begin with, I don't really recall you ever staring at me or going out of your way to do anything other than fight with me, _luv_," she emphasized the pet name and rolled her eyes again. Ever since their brief little romance, the two had remained friends and kept up the use of the nicknames. "She's not quite as advanced as I am." Her head quickly swiveled towards Melissa, "Not a word."   
  
    Melissa held up her hands in silent surrender, but couldn't mask the amused grin on her face.   
  
    Sirius cocked his head to one side, "Of course I always hunted you down to fight with, you're so much cuter when you're angry." Then he quickly slipped out of the car before Tessa had a chance to reply.   
  
    Remus glanced over at Tessa who was wearing an expression of amused, and somewhat happy, shock and then chanced a glance at Melissa. He wasn't surprised to see a look of complete understanding there.   
  
    He wrinkled his brows in sudden understanding and leaned over to whisper in Melissa's ear, "She still likes him?"   
  
    Melissa turned her head slightly to whisper back to him, "He still likes her, too, I just don't think he realizes it."   
  
    "You think so? He's never said anything like that."   
  
    He could hear the grin in her voice with the next statement, "The two of them have far too much fun fighting to not get together again soon. Lily and James are exactly the same way, they just haven't found the fun in it yet."   
  
    Remus sat back and thought that she was probably right.   
  
    "We'd best head back to our compartment, Tessa," Melissa said, standing up and grinning at the three remaining boys. "Have a nice holiday you lot. I'm sure it'll be September in a blink and we'll all be back soon."   
  
    Tessa stood up, "You know, I think I'd like to stop in and say good-bye to Colin."   
  
    "The Hufflepuff?"  
  
    Tessa grinned and nodded as Melissa shook her head in resignation.  
  
    "Happy holiday, boys," Tessa told them, pausing to hug all three, not an entirely unusual gesture from her.   
  
    "Be careful you two," James said quietly. "We all know… well, being Muggleborns and all…"   
  
    Melissa placed a hand gently on his shoulder but her words were firm and sure, "We'll see you in September, James. Safe and sound."   
  
    James waved his hand in a dismissive gesture, as his face went slightly red, "Of course. I know that."   
  
    Tessa slid the door open stepped out into the hallway. For a moment, Melissa stood as though she'd forgotten something and then quickly pulled Remus into an embrace. It ended before it had even really begun and before any of the boys could blink, both girls were heading down the corridor with Melissa calling over her shoulder, "Happy holiday, boys."  
  
    Remus sat back down, glowing bright red, only face identical looks of quirked eyebrows and amusement from Peter and James.   
  
    "And what was that?" Peter asked.  
  
    Turning even redder, "Er… I'm sure she's just a little worried, you know… Voldemort… being Muggleborn… my parents or something…"   
  
    "Sure, Remus," James conceded, glancing conspiratorially at him.   
  
    "Right, of course," Peter chirped.   


~~*~~

  
    "Potter."   
  
    _Oh bloody hell_. "Malfoy."   
  
    "Where are your little sidekicks?"   
  
    James turned around to face Gallus Malfoy. "I could ask you the same. Lurking nearby, no doubt."   
  
    "Worried about your little girlfriends, no doubt."   
  
    "Excuse me?"   
  
    "Those Mudbloods that idiot friend of yours calls the Gryffindor Five, all Mudbloods aren't they?"   
  
    "There's no such thing as mud blood, Malfoy. And if there was, I'd be far more inclined to believe we'd be discussing yours."   
  
    Gallus narrowed his eyes at James, "You'll want to watch who you insult, Potter. Your family may be able to save you, but your friends don't have the same luxury."  
  
    "Are you threatening my friends?" James asked, taking a menacing step forward.  
  
    "Threatening isn't really the right word. I'd think a Pureblood like yourself would understand that it's important to keep the blood clean."   
  
    "_All_ magical blood _is_ clean, Malfoy. I don't know what you're getting at, so you'd best spell it out so I can step off." James wrapped his arms across his chest.   
  
    "What I'm proposing, Potter, is that you are from one of the oldest Pureblood families in the wizarding community. You'll want to decide where your loyalties lie. Quickly." Malfoy glanced at him, as though expecting him to declare his alliance with Voldemort right there on the spot.   
  
    "My loyalties lie with my friends, and they always will, Malfoy. Many of whom are what you and your kind consider," James paused and then spat out the word, "Mudbloods." He shook his head. "Death Eaters have already killed my best friend's parents, you'd have to be mad to think I've _ever_ side with you. Now get out of my way, you filth." His temper had escalated with each word until he pushed Gallus Malfoy out of the way and stalked past him.   
  
    "Very well, Potter. You were given a chance. You've been warned," Gallus just straightened himself up and started to walk down the corridor in the opposite direction. "It would be such a shame if something happened to that Watts girl this summer."   
  
    _He doesn't know anything about her or where to find her. Mel will be **fine**, she'll be absolutely fine-_  
  
    "A construction accident perhaps? That would be just awful."   
  
    James whirled around just in time to see the door connecting the corridors click shut. He fought back the urge to chase down Gallus and beat him to a pulp, instead he turned back around, opened the door on the opposite end and forcefully strode through it, smashing right into a very solid object.   
  
    "McGonagall?"   
  
    "Potter," she replied quietly, taking the hand he offered to help her up. She smoothed out her skirt and adjusted her robes. "What're you doing in this end of the train? Most of the Gryffindors tend to stick to the back."   
  
    "I was just… clearing my head," he gave her a quick once over to make sure she was really alright. "You look horrid."   
  
    Trixie let out an amused laugh, "That's the best thing about boys, none of you bother with tact."   
  
    James winced, "Sorry, I meant-"  
  
    She smiled sadly and then cut him off, "You meant what you said. I could be sleeping better I suppose. You're not exactly radiant yourself."   
  
    James shrugged, "A touch of insomnia, I guess."   
  
    The two exchanged the glance of children who've dealt with too much.   
  
    "Well, I'll see you in September, then?" Trixie asked, heading back towards her compartment.   
  
    "Yes, have a happy holiday, Trixie," James replied. "Be safe."   
  
    "You too."   
  
    James continued back to his compartment where Sirius was boring Remus and Peter to tears with a detailed description of his visit with Madison. Peter burst into laughter as Arthur hopped into his lap.   
  
    "Sweet Merlin, Becca's right. Frank does need that thing Spell-o-Taped to his body," Remus laughed, picking up the frog and leaving the compartment.   
  
    James just sat back and watched all this occur, thinking about his previous exchange with Gallus Malfoy and worrying about what was to come.   


~~*~~

  
    "Do you suppose he'll manage to sleep on the way home Seventh Year?" Peter asked, cautiously peering at Remus.   
  
    "Yup." Sirius picked up a box of Bertie Bott's he'd purchased earlier and began pegging them at his friend. "Wakey, wakey, Remmy." He stopped and put a red one into his mouth, quickly spitting it back into his hand and then chucking the slimey, chewed up bean at Remus.   
  
    The others looked at him curiously. "Blood." James grimaced. Sirius continued throwing beans at Remus as the three of them conversed.  
  
    "So… next year…" Peter began.   
  
    "Next year we'll actually be _allowed_ to go into Hogsmeade," James grinned.   
  
    "But that'll take some of the fun out of it, don't you think?" Sirius tossed another bean.   
  
    "You know, I suspect you're right," James replied thoughtfully.  
  
    "I forgot to tell you both," Peter suddenly exclaimed. "Fifth primer spell, done! I turned Bob into a porcupine and then I even managed a small llama, which I think is part of the seventh spell, but I'm not sure."   
  
    "Fifth? But I haven't even got the fifth one down yet," Sirius exclaimed.   
  
    James laughed, "Way to go, Peter."   
  
    The train slowed to a halt and the three boys quieted for a moment and looked at one another. Sirius broke the eerie stillness by throwing a handful of beans harder than usual at Remus, who, to the rest of their surprised, threw a heavy book off of the floor at his dark haired friend.   
  
    James and Peter burst into laughter as Remus groggily sat up and brushed half a bag of beans off of himself. The four boys collected their belongings to the background sounds of Remus grumbling and Sirius telling off colored jokes and then headed out onto the platform.   


~~*~~

  
    Sirius nudged Peter and Remus in the ribs. "Look," he gestured with his head in James's direction.   
  
    The four boys were standing on the platform waiting. James had his wand discreetly placed up his robes, but the other three Marauders quickly realized where it was pointing.   
  
    A moment later, Severus Snape stopped short, dropping his trunk and sending his owl, still in its cage, rolling across the platform, squawking loudly. Most of the students turned to view the cause of the racket. He struggled to lift his foot, but couldn't. Remus heard Sirius and James snicker.   
  
    "What'd you do?" he whispered to James.   
  
    "_Adhaereo_."   
  
    "Huh?"   
  
    James snickered, "I glued his feet to the ground."   
  
    Snape stood in his spot looking confused. He reached down and grabbed at his legs, trying to pull them up.   
  
    "Are you alright, Severus?" Lily Evans rushed over, her red hair flailing behind her in her usual pigtails.   
  
    He stood straight up, "I am fine, Evans."   
  
    Lily ignored him and peered down at his feet. Remus saw her scowl and look around the platform, her eyes coming to rest on the Marauders. She glared, turned back to Severus and pointed her wand at his feet.   
  
    "_Finite Incantatem_, try to move now, Severus," Lily offered.  
  
    Snape gave her a look, but pulled at his leg, which was still stuck firm to the concrete of the platform.   
  
    Sirius and James both started to snicker and walk towards their trunks, Peter following closely behind. Lily turned back to glare at the Marauders but only saw Remus. She gave him a nasty look and then turned back to Snape again.   
  
    "Ah ha, _exsolvo_. That's it. That prat, using a Binding Charm, really, try now, Severus," Lily ordered and Snape obliged.   
  
    When his foot moved freely he looked up at her. "I was perfectly capable of deciphering the countercurse for that, Evans."   
  
    She rolled her eyes, "Your welcome, Severus. Have a lovely holiday."   
  
    Remus watched as she bounded over to where Rebecca, Frank and Alice were standing with their parents. She gave all three quick hugs and then rushed over to the barrier where Melissa and Tessa seemed to be waiting for her.   
  
    "Coming Remus? Or are you going to stay here until September?" Peter called back to him.   
  
    Remus walked over to where the other three stood among the four trunks. "Well then?"   
  
    Sirius gestured over to the far side of the platform, an older woman was standing with a slightly younger man and woman. All three were sporting colors that made it clear they were Slytherin alumni. Bellatrix Black was hugging the younger couple. "Best head off into hell, then. I'll see you lot over the summer. Owls. Lots of them. Soon." He smirked over in the direction of the Snapes, who were speaking with their son, grabbed his trunk and started over towards the Slytherin group.   
  
    James, Remus and Peter all exchanged slightly worried looks as Sirius left them. Then James perked up as his parents crossed the barrier and walked over to the three boys.   
  
    James blushed bright red as his mother gathered him up into a big hug and his dad slapped him on the back.   
  
    "Good year, son?" Mr. Potter asked.   
  
    "It was alright."   
  
    "Hello, Peter, Remus," Mrs. Potter addressed the other boys. She put a hand on Remus's back. "I'm so sorry about your parents, Remus."   
  
    Remus shrugged and looked down at the ground, swallowing hard, "Thanks."  
  
    "You're welcome at our home any time this summer," she continued. "You too, Peter."   
  
    Mr. Potter bent down and lifted James trunk for him. James turned to the other two boys, "See you then, mates."   
  
    Peter grinned, "See you."   
  
    Remus smiled back weakly, "See you."   
  
    The adult Potters bid the boys farewell and headed off through the barrier, Remus watching as James shoulder's hitched in what he assumed was a repressed chuckle when they walked past the Snapes.   
  
    "Where are your grandparents, Remus?" Peter asked, picking up the travel box that Bob had traveled in.   
  
    "Not here yet, I suppose. Where are your parents?"  
  
    "They can't cross the barrier. I've got to go out to them," Peter said, looping his fingers around the edge of his trunk.   
  
    "Well, let's go then. I can meet my grandparents out there just as well as in here," Remus replied, grabbing onto his own trunk.   
  
    The two boys sent a final wave in Sirius's direction, who already looked completely miserable, and crossed the barrier into the Muggle world.   
    **To be continued...**


End file.
